The Hunter
by Thomas Mc
Summary: In the year 2041, after an unfortunate incident, the city of New York becomes over run by people hunting for the elusive ‘Creature of Central Park’ making things difficult for the descendants of Vincent and Catherine. This is a prequel to 'Alexander'.
1. Unexpected Encounters

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

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_Note: __ This story begins in the year 2041, and concerns some of the descendants of Vincent and Catherine. _

* * *

**Chapter 1 : Unexpected Encounters**

**Spring 2041**

William pulled his hood up, despite the beautiful early spring weather, as he made his way back to the tunnels. It was an act of self preservation rather than a reaction to the temperature. Hiding his leonine features when Above was second nature for him. This part of the city had no direct tunnel access and there was a fairly large transient population so he was careful to keep his hood up and his features hidden while he made his way to the nearest access, over a half mile away.

He had been visiting a sick helper to deliver some medicine and provide some welcome company. George was a long time friend of his family. He had been rescued from a trapped subway car by Grandfather Vincent and Aunt Jennifer after the 2001 terrorist attack. For over thirty-eight years he has been a close and loyal friend of the family. He had been present at William's naming ceremony. George had asked after Grandfather Vincent and Grandmother Catherine. William had reported that they were both doing well. As he slipped between the buildings he found himself thinking about his rather unique family.

Although at eighty-five and eighty-six Catherine and Vincent were still pretty spry, they were slowing down somewhat. Ten years ago Catherine had finally retired from public life. She and Vincent had moved to their chambers Below and planned to spend their remaining years there. Now William's mother and father lived in the old brownstone off Central Park. Though he still had his own room in the brownstone he spent the majority of his time in his chamber below, mostly as an act of independence.

His mother had followed in her father's footsteps and become a New York City District Attorney. He actually felt a sense of pride that District Attorney Elizabeth Maxwell, daughter of Joseph Maxwell was his mother. He just wished that she could acknowledge her marriage to his father but, until there was a radical change in the attitudes of the world above, that was not possible. His father like himself had inherited their lion-like features and unique abilities from Grandfather Vincent.

It came upon him, unexpectedly, in waves, interrupting his private reveries. _Pain_, _despair_, _fear_. The despair in particular was overwhelming. It was coming from somewhere inside the abandoned building straight ahead. As he approached he could sense the presence that was the source of the strong emotions. It was somewhere on the fourth floor. There was a sudden intensification of the pain, then after a few seconds it faded back. The entrances to the building were all boarded up so he began to climb the outside of the building. He could feel the presence slowly fading away as he got closer. As he approached a broken forth floor window there was a momentary bright flash of _regret_ then the presence faded away completely. He knew what that meant. Death . . . but there was still an echo of _distress_.

The silence was disturbed by the sound of a crying baby coming from that broken window above him. He climbed the last few feet and entered through that window. The room was empty except for the deep accumulation of dust. He followed the crying into the next room. On the dirty floor lay a dead woman, a needle stuck in her arm. He was immediately struck by how much she looked like a very young version of his aunt Linda. Or more like a young Linda that had been beaten down by the world and had finally succumbed to despair. There was no heartbeat, blood was everywhere and beside her body lay the crying baby still attached to the umbilical.

William quickly tied off and separated the cord, checked the infant over then wrapped it in the folds of his cloak. A quick check of the dead body turned up no identification except for a scrap of paper with the name 'Karen' written on it. Was that the woman's name? He had no way of telling. The child had calmed down considerably once wrapped warmly in his cloak. There was also something very lethargic and blunted about the infant's emotions. He suspected that might be related to that needle in her dead mother's arm.

As William sat on the dirty floor rocking and soothing the baby, his attention was disturbed by the sense of a new presence. A malevolent presence. There was a cold machine-like quality to the person he was sensing. It was nearly inhuman. The next thing he became aware of was the very faint smell of gas. Still holding the infant, he carefully opened the door into the main hallway. The smell was definitely stronger here, though still very faint. He traced it to the stairwell door. When he opened the door he was nearly knocked over by the strong odor. His keen sense of smell also detected a second odor that he couldn't recognize. He became aware that the other presence was now outside the building as he slammed the stairwell door shut. He turned back towards the room he had just come from when he heard the screeching of car tires pulling away. William quickly ran back to the window where he had entered. Peering out, he saw taillights moving rapidly away down the alley.

*** ****BOOM!**** * **

The floor heaved throwing him off his feet. He landed on his knees and one hand. The other hand curled around the infant. He jumped up and quickly climbed through the window. Below him there were flames and smoke billowing out of the third floor windows. He looked back in the fourth floor window. The floor was rapidly turning black in several spots and smoke was curling up from those blackened spots. There was only one way down for him. Carefully he made his way over to a part of the outside wall that was brick all the way down to the ground and began to climb down.

He had reached a point halfway between the lines of second and third story windows. It was difficult holding on to the closely packed brick wall with only the claws of his left hand. His booted feet were nearly useless here.

*** ****BOOM!**** * **

Another explosion, blowing out all the second story windows, shook the sides of the building causing him to lose his precarious grip. As he fell he twisted around trying to get his feet down. With the infant clasped close to his body and only his left arm free he was off balance and was only partially successful. He landed feet first but he was way off center and curled up into a ball to protect the baby he was carrying as the rest of his body crashed to the ground, hard. For several precious seconds he lay there on the ground stunned. The child began crying again. He laboriously struggled to his feet and staggered down the alleyway.

*** ****BOOM!** *

He glanced back and saw a column of fire shoot up from the roof about where the stairwell should be. He turned back and sprinted across the street into the next alley and stopped to sooth the child until it's crying had been reduced to a whimper. He could feel her hunger building and knew she needed to be fed soon. He glanced back at the building he had just left. The bottom five floors were fully engulfed and there were flames just beginning to appear in the sixth floor windows. An explosion of flames billowed from the second and third floor windows accompanied by the sound of crashing wood and glass.

William turned his back on the inferno and made his way to the nearest underground access that was still six blocks away.

~ o ~

Linda dangled the tiny geode on its silver chain before Jacob. It had been a gift from his parents on his fifteenth birthday. The missing half of the one inch stone sphere had been given to his brother Charles, who like himself carried the unique Chandler-Wells genetic heritage. They had told him that it represented the Chandler-Wells men. "Rough forbidding rock on the outside and surprisingly beautiful crystalline fire on the inside." As he reached out to retrieve it, she playfully jerked it away, giggling gleefully. There was also a hint of _erotic_ _desire_ mixed into her playful emotional mix as she backed away from him.

They had been taking a midnight stroll, hand in hand, in the park, enjoying the quiet ambiance and each other's company. They had stopped for a short time at the 'Forever' Monument that Jacob and his siblings had managed to have placed in the park on their parent's fiftieth wedding anniversary. Jacob was very proud of the fact that it had been Linda who had designed it. He still was amused at some of the political and legal machinations Elizabeth and many of their helpers had gone through to get it placed here a little over a year ago. Linda had always been a very romantic person and this monument seemed to bring that aspect out in her particularly strongly. Jacob had been noticing her emotional state since they had left the monument.

Linda worked as an accountant for the Wells-Chandler Foundation and the last week had been hectic as they prepared the books for this year's Income taxes. It had been decided when the foundation was first formed to not get a tax exempt status even though it classified as a charity organization. This had avoided a lot of government interference and red tape but it meant that the weeks before tax day were long and hectic. Now that it was done, with three weeks to spare, she was taking a couple of week's vacation to spend with her family. Next weekend they were going to go up to the Chandler lake house. Thinking about a whole weekend alone with Jacob had gotten her in a playfully amorous mood and she was indulging. With a sexy tease she was off, sprinting through the moon lit park.

Filled with the heady mix of the early spring air of Central Park after midnight, the thrill of the chase and the hint of promised reward, when the quarry was captured, was too much to resist. After twenty-nine years of marriage, their love was still undimmed. With a roar of challenge, Jacob leaped to the chase. Linda dodged to the right then bolted off to the left giggling. Linda's emotions filled his consciousness as he chased after her. Although he was much swifter and more agile than her, she had become expert at anticipating his moves and dodging them. He was also just barely holding back, though that still meant that he was much quicker than any normal person. They were both surprisingly spry for fifty years old, to some extent thanks to activities such as this. She was nearly as adept at sensing his presence over their link as he was at sensing hers so there was no chance of ether one sneaking up on the other. He would simply have to out maneuver her.

Jacob sprinted around ahead of Linda. She dodged to the right squealing and was now headed in the general direction of Belvedere Castle. She had gained some distance in that last maneuver and she ran out into an open space. It took him a couple of seconds to catch up to her. He was cutting across the open space rapidly gaining on her. Again she dodged out of his reach. He swung around and lunged after her with a roar. She dodged again but he was able to grab her as he charged past. She shrieked as they tumble to the ground. He landed on top of her and raised his hands roaring in triumph.

_Surprise_, _terror_, _horror_! A dozen presences all around them impinged on his mind at once. They were surrounded and they had been seen. Quickly almost in a panic Jacob scooped Linda up and threw her over his shoulder. Linda squealed in surprise as he sprinted for the deeper shadowed woods away from those unseen people. As he entered the wooded area he heard some woman's voice scream out something unintelligible – that ended in - "**ANN!**"

Linda had sensed his _anxiety_ through the link and, realizing that something was wrong, had quietly held on while Jacob continued to run. He sprinted around to the far side of the lake and the amphitheater, continuing right past the tunnel access in the castle. He didn't slow down until he had reached the other runoff culvert near the band shell that led to the southern tunnel entrance. He set her on her feet, taking her hand as he entered the storm drain opening at the end of the culvert. Jacob led them quickly through the old storm drain to the barred gate and triggering the secret door drew her inside. Only after the door had closed behind them did he stop and lean against the curved wall.

"Jacob, what happened back there?" She asked.

Jacob replied. "At least a dozen people saw us." He shook his head. "I didn't even know they were there until I felt their reaction to seeing us." He looked over at her. "From their emotions, they must have thought I was attacking you."

"Oh no." Her hand flew to her mouth. This could be disastrous. "We have to alert the family and the community immediately." Then she remembered the geode still clutched in her left hand and handed it back to him.

Jacob took her hand and they quickly made their way towards the central chambers. As they walked she asked. "Why didn't you sense those people sooner?" It was unusual for him to be caught unawares like this and she was curious why he hadn't sensed them.

He shook his head. "I don't know . . . but . . . now that I think about it, I think maybe I _was_ sensing them but it felt like echoes of the amorous emotions I was getting from you." His brows furrowed. "I'm not sure but I think we may have stumbled upon a group of young people that were all engaged in similar pursuits as us."

Her eyes began to glitter with humor. "You mean we barged into a bunch of kids, necking?"

He looked back at her. "Isn't that what I just said?"

Then she finally succumbed to the humor of the situation and started laughing. "Oh . . . Jake . . . that's rich . . ." She gulped down her laughter getting herself under control. "Do you realize how much that scene sounds like a classic teenage horror video?" She fought down the desire to laugh again. "I can just picture them trying to explain it to their parents." She shook her head. "This may just turn out to be nothing."

He was beginning to see the humor in the situation and agreed that she might be right. Never the less it was better safe than sorry.

~ o ~

When Jacob and Linda reached the community dining chamber they found William there surrounded by Charles, Elizabeth and several other members of the community. The emotions in the chamber were all over the spectrum but _gentle compassion_ dominated. As they reached the group they noticed that William was holding a tiny infant wrapped in a corner of his cloak and feeding it from a baby bottle. Elizabeth was sitting beside him apparently coaching him on proper technique. Doctor Teresa arrived carrying an ancient black doctors bag. The bag had originally belonged to old Father Jacob Wells and had been presented to Rosa who had passed it on to her daughter, Teresa, when she had become the resident tunnel physician.

Doctor Teresa carefully checked over the infant while William continued to feed her. She was a little concerned about the infant's lethargic reactions. Finally she took a blood sample which the baby barely noticed. With a quiet, "I'll get this checked out at the hospital but otherwise she seems to be healthy and normal," she withdrew from the group. William's sister, Clarissa, came in carrying a bundle and handed it to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth laid a cloth over Williams shoulder and instructed him in proper burping technique. Finally they cleaned the infant up and dressed her. Soon she was sound asleep. As he sat there holding the sleeping girl, William related the story of what had happened from the beginning for those that hadn't heard the whole tale yet.

"What are you going to do with her?" Linda asked.

William looked down at the sleeping child. "I found her. I'll take care of her, unless we find out who her family is. Until then she's my responsibility." He gently caressed the child.

William's older brother Peter entered the group. "I got out your old crib and put it in your room." He leaned in to look at the baby. "Have you got a name for her?"

Williams responded with a smile. "Yes I have but you will have to wait 'til next weeks naming ceremony to find out what it is." He had already decided to give her the name he had found written on that piece of paper.

~ o ~

Patricia had been planning to spend the evening studying when Harold had shown up and invited her on a snipe hunt in Central Park with the rest of the gang. (Translation: The gang was going out necking in the park.)

Patricia thought Harold was nice enough but, to her, he was just a pleasant diversion. Oh, she liked him a lot and found his company very pleasant, but there was no magic spark between them like her parents had enjoyed. At least until her mother had died two years ago of a burst aneurism in her brain. Patricia had sworn that one day she would find a way to detect all such hidden physical defects before they tragically announced their presence to the world. Towards that end she launched herself whole heartedly into the biology program at her college.

Harold had no illusions about the nature of his and Patricia's relationship. They had known each other since second year high school and he was sweet on her but he knew that she did not feel the same way towards him. Still they were good friends and did occasionally enjoy a sort of no strings attached sexual liaison. Also it didn't particularly bother her if he went out with another girl. In fact she had even set him up with the occasional friend. For a fairly normal red blooded eighteen year old male, it seemed like a perfect situation.

She looked down at her books, up at Harold, then back down at her books again. "#$%& - it!" She snapped the biology book shut and bounced up out of the chair. "I'm in." She grabbed his hand.

"Great!" He responded and they headed out of the room.

They joined up with the rest of the gang on the college commons. Her dorm mate, Carolyn was there with Jack, a current boyfriend. She seemed to change boyfriends as often as others changed underwear. They were all pleased that she could come. Carolyn often told her that she was way too serious and needed to loosen up some. Well they wouldn't be able to say that tonight. There was fourteen all told and three cars among them. While the high level negotiations on who went in which car began, she glanced absentmindedly out at the student parking lot and her heart jumped to her throat. She took two quick steps and started to call out before she realized that it couldn't possibly be her sister's car. Then her face fell with the realization.

"Patty?" Harold came up behind her. "Are you OK?"

She turned to face him. "I'm fine. Just thought I saw someone I knew."

"Your sister?" He asked sympathetically.

She nodded mutely, not trusting herself to speak. Had it really been six months since her younger sister had disappeared. She and her little sister had always been extremely close. There was only a year's difference between them. They even had the same birthday. Then something had gone wrong.

It had started last spring when her sister started seeing that Blevins kid. Her sister had become more secretive and distant. Throughout the summer her sister's personality had become more and more erratic until Patricia could barely recognize her. Her sister had continued to get moodier, then came the day Patricia found little sister crying heartbrokenly in her room. The next day her sister had totaled her beloved car and three days after that on a bleak September morning Patricia had awoken to find her sister gone.

Patricia never found out why. She knew there had been a falling out with her father. When she asked about it, he had refused to talk about it. She noticed that he had become a little sadder and a little grayer after that. All her sister had left behind was a short note on a torn piece of paper saying she was sorry how things turned out and goodbye. She hadn't even signed her name.

Patricia was brought out of her reverie by Harold's hand on her shoulder. Understanding and sympathy were clearly visible in his eyes. Good old sweet Harold. Sometimes she thought it was a shame there was no real chemistry between them. Carolyn called to them to hurry up. They rejoined the rest, piled into the three cars and headed off.

Halfway to the park they stopped at a favorite ice cream place and they all indulged their sweet tooth favorites. Patricia's mood improved greatly with a liberal dose of Rocky Road and friendly gossip. The sun was getting low in the sky by the time they resumed the trek to the park.

It was hours after sundown and, as expected, the park excursion had degenerated into pockets of necking couples. Things were getting a bit hot and heavy between Patricia and Harold. He was pretty good in this particular department. The quiet night was disturbed by the squeal of some female. Patricia thought to herself, '_someone got caught_.' as she continued kissing Harold. Then the mood was shattered by a lion like roar followed by a woman's shriek.

Startled, Patricia looked up in the direction of the sounds. A woman came running out of the wooded area on the other side of the soccer field clearing. A moment later a large figure emerged from a different spot in the woods. The pursuer was running much faster than the woman and his curving path was obviously intended to cut off the fleeing woman. As they got closer the pursuer became a terrifying apparition. He was huge and he had the face and mane of a lion. As she watched the inevitable approach of the apparition she remembered the old urban legend of the Creature of Central Park. The woman was now running a curved path trying to evade it but the creature was moving too fast for her to escape.

The woman was about a hundred feet away when Patricia recognized her with a start. She watched in horror as the creature reached her little sister. Her sister quickly changed direction dodging out of its reach. The creature lunged with a roar and her sister again tried to dodge the creature's grasp. This time it caught her arm and she shrieked as they both went tumbling to the ground. In an instant her sister was on the ground and the creature was on top of her. It raised what she now saw were sharp claws above its head and roared in triumph. Patricia was frozen in horror as she watch what she knew were her sister's final moments. Then the creature glanced around. Suddenly it jumped up, scooping up its squealing quarry and, throwing her over its shoulder, ran back into the deep shadows of the woods.

Finally shaking off her paralysis, Patricia jumped up just as they reached the woods screaming out in her anguish. "**GOD NO, KAAARREEEN!**"

_**Continued in Part 2**_

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	2. Reactions and Time

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

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**Chapter 2 : Reactions and Time**

Jacob had issued the alert over the pipes early that morning and it would be repeated throughout the day. The park was off limits to all Chandler-Wells males until they had assessed the effects of last night's adventures. Jacob and Linda then went up to the old brownstone where Charles and his wife Elizabeth currently lived. There they could watch the news on the video to see if there was any mention of last night's events. Several helpers were also wandering the park this morning to see if there was any talk about it among the people.

The first news item was about some coup in the Middle East. There had been a lot of unrest in that part of the world along with a rise in world terrorism lately. The next item was about an old abandoned building that had burned down last night. They had found the remains of some transient's body in the ashes but it was so badly incinerated that they did not expect to be able to identify it. The investigators had not released their report yet.

Charles commented to Elizabeth. "That's the building William told us about."

Elizabeth nodded grimly. "Tomorrow morning I'll contact the investigators and pass along . . . the anonymous tip I got today about that fire last night." She shook her head. "It's a real shame about that woman. I had hoped that we would be able to find her family but it looks like they may not be able to identify her." She took Charles' hand. "William is so young to be taking on such a big responsibility."

Charles responded. "He's not really that young, and he's already accepted responsibility for that child. William is twenty-four and a very level headed young man." He gave his wife's hand a squeeze. "Despite all of its potential problems, I think they will both do well."

"I know that dear but still, a baby born drug addicted is a handful for anybody." She leaned her head against his furry shoulder. "William will have some tough times ahead of him, whether that child ends up normal or not."

There were several more news items, then they came to the 'For what it's worth' segment. The news anchor looked over at the newsman immediately to his right. "I see the full moon brought out an unusual crop at the park last night."

The other newsman responded. "That's right John, only the full moon, or moons, were on the backsides of a bunch of teenagers." The commentator chuckled at his own joke. "For what it's worth, last night a group of college kids that were making out in Central Park last night saw, get this, 'The Creature of Central Park' chase down grab and run off with a screaming young woman." The announcer smiled out of the screen. "We did some digging here at WNYC and found that stories of the creature go back nearly three quarters of a century. He seems pretty active for his age." There were a few more sly remarks about teenagers, hormones, alcohol and urban legends.

Charles addressed Jacob through suppressed laughter. "Well big brother, it could have been worse. At least they made fun of it." Jacob merely glared at him.

Linda spoke up indignantly. "I was **not** screaming." She placed her hands on her hips daring anyone to contradict her.

Jacob gave her a sidelong glance. "Weellll . . . You do squeal sometimes." His eyes sparked with suppressed humor as she threw a sofa pillow at him.

Unfortunately a few of the news outlets and several fringe groups took the report seriously. By the next day the park was full of various groups, intent on hunting down the creature, and the news outlets that were covering their efforts. By nightfall of the second day their numbers had doubled. It was rapidly turning into an overblown phenomenon.

~ x x x x x ~

It had been five days since the park incident and the furor just wouldn't die. It had become the current topic on several local TV and Radio stations. Most of the local media outlets were making fun of the phenomenon. A few though were talking as though they were taking it seriously. One of the national networks had also picked up the story and run with it. There were now dozens of amateur monster hunters roaming the park trying to capture or photograph the elusive Creature of Central Park.

Two days after the incident some wit in the media had decided that the creature needed a nickname and had suggested Leo. Another media commentator after taking dozens of suggestions had settled on Broadway. Now there was a media war going on over whether to call it Leo or Broadway. Linda's only response was that she didn't think either name suited Jacob. His brother, on the other hand, began to refer to Jacob as Broadway Leo, much to his annoyance. The next day, Linda's older brother, in a fit of mischievousness, even called into both stations and suggested Broadway Leo as a compromise. The name caught on immediately.

~ o ~

Patricia was ready to strangle someone. She had spent five days beating her head against the bureaucratic brick wall trying to get someone to do something about that monster. Her father had chided her for her foolishness then refused to discuss it. She was pacing angrily in the college biology lab as she blew off steam to Harold.

"That thing grabbed Karen and ran off with her. There's no telling what kinds of horror she suffered before that thing was done with her . . . And the news people think it's funny . . . They've even named it 'Broadway Leo' for God's sake. The police say we're delusional and the rest of the city government ignores us." She kicked the specimen refrigerator. "A dozen of us saw it and they won't do anything."

"Patty, you have to calm down." Harold remarked. "It was after midnight. We can't be positive what we saw. For all we know the whole thing might be a hoax or someone's idea of a joke."

"**Bull!**" She turned on him, her eyes snapping in anger. "That was my sister, not some hoax."

"We saw that woman's face for less than a second." He responded. "I couldn't positively identify her if I had to. You could be mistaken."

"I **know** what I saw." She replied angrily. She turned and her eyes fell momentarily on the tranquilizer gun case. "If they wouldn't do anything **I will**." She stalked out of the lab, Harold trailing after her, worried over what she might have meant by that last statement.

~ o ~

It was past midnight as Patricia lifted the tranquilizer dart pistol from the case. She took a half dozen of the darts and a bottle of very strong tranquilizer. One way or another she would find that monster and bring it down.

She got out of the building without setting off any alarms and headed to the park. She had almost had a fit waiting for her dorm mate, Carolyn, to go to sleep so she could go out without having to explain or lie.

After a couple of hours she left the park in disgust. There were so many people in the park at night that there was no chance that the monster would show up. After she had returned the equipment to the school, she went back to the dorm and did some serious planning.

Patricia was determined to bring down that monster that had taken her little sister but she would have to bide her time. She thought it out. She made plans. She couldn't keep 'borrowing' school equipment so she would have to obtain supplies of her own. Buying the necessary equipment untraceably was easy. Getting the chemicals would be the hard part. She would have to formulate her own tranquilizer from common chemicals.

~ o ~

The public response to this particular Central Park Creature sighting had been phenomenal. It produced the largest rash of monster hunters in the parks history. It was both a boon and a detriment. Tourism was up but the attendant problems of litter, crime and damage to park property was also up. The city was forced to increase mounted patrols throughout the park.

For the community Below the overall effect was mild general annoyance. All access points in the park itself were blocked off, forcing many of the community to take roundabout routes to come and go between Above and Below. Those with Vincent's leonine heritage stayed Below. In general, life went on Below as it always had. Jacob and Linda did get their fair share of teasing especially from her big brother and his little brother over the various descriptions of their little adventure that showed up in the media and in general gossip.

~ x x x x x ~

Four weeks had passed since that eventful night. Once the Fire Marshal started looking for it, they were able to find evidence of a very sophisticated and nearly undetectable cause for the abandoned office building fire and it was ruled arson. The owner was soon indicted for the insurance fraud and homicide. He quickly gave up the arsonist for a reduction on the murder charge. Elizabeth went after them both with a vengeance.

There had however been no progress in finding out who the infant's mother might have been. In the end the dead woman had just ended up as another Jane Doe. Elizabeth had gotten a genetic map of the baby and put it into the District Attorney database but that would do them no good unless they could find someone to compare it to. Linda had even had it compared to her own because William said she looked a lot like the dead woman but there turned out to be no indication of relationship.

Most of his family and friends were present as the long delayed naming ceremony reached the point where William stepped forward holding the infant he had rescued. "I name her Karen because that was the name written on the piece of paper I found next to her. It may be the only connection she will ever have with her origin." He declared.

For now at least William had assumed total responsibility for the child and was treating her as his own. Initial blood tests had shown that the infant had small amounts of several illegal drugs in her system and William had been spending every waking second watching over her and dealing with the problems of an infant born addicted. Those first three weeks had been very hard on both of them but little Karen had come out of it intact and healthy. There would still be months of problems ahead but it looked like the main crises had passed. Doctor Teresa had predicted that Karen was strong and would thrive.

William's friends stepped forward to bestow their small gifts upon the child as he gazed down at her with almost paternal pride.

~ o ~

Patricia had managed to get the equipment she needed. She had modified a compact paintball gun to handle the darts she had ordered over the internet and formulated a strong fast acting but otherwise harmless sedative. Every weekend she would prowl the park. The rest of the time she worked on her studies. Her life had now become defined by two basic drives. To get her biology degree and to bring down the thing that had taken her beloved sister.

~ x x x x x ~

**Year 2042**

For over a year and a half the Creature hunting craze continued unabated. Even a couple of obvious hoaxes pulled by some helpers to discredit the whole thing had barely put a dent in it. Then for the last three weeks, in the late fall, the Central Park Creature craze was forgotten in the excitement of the launch of the first Lunar colonization ship. The excitement over such an historic event was felt even down in the tunnels. The pipes were full of the news of the project's progress. For a time the Creature and the hunters were forgotten by the media.

Teresa had just completed her checkup of little Karen and announced her completely free of any effects of the drugs that had been in her system at birth. She credited prompt treatment, very good luck, and William's selfless care of her for that total recovery.

William and his parents were extremely pleased. Despite how she came into his life, he loved her as a daughter and did not begrudge one minute of the months he had spent caring for her as her tiny body fought the effects of the drugs she had absorbed in her mother's womb. Now it was finally over and he looked forward to the adventure of raising a healthy young daughter.

As he sat down in front of his parent's televideo to feed her and watch the latest on the lunar colony he thought momentarily of that night he had found her next to her dead mother. He wondered what her mother would think if she could see her daughter now. She would certainly be surprised at the appearance of the one feeding her.

His attention was suddenly riveted on the news report that a young man dressed as Broadway Leo, (Uncle Jacob hated that nickname), had been shot with a tranquilizer dart while passing through the park last night. The report revealed that a young man dressed as the Central Park lion-man and his date had been on their way to a Halloween party and they had decided to cut through the park. While in the park they had become a bit playful and he had begun chasing his girlfriend. His girlfriend noticed that he was no longer chasing her so she stopped running and looked back to see him collapse to the ground. She ran back to him and found him unconscious and unresponsive then began screaming for help. A mounted police officer arrived just seconds later. The officer dismounted to check on the young man and spotted the dart stuck in his lower back. He immediately called in a request for backup and an ambulance. The announcer went on to editorialize about the danger some of those monster hunter kooks in the park posed for the law abiding public.

William's mother, sitting on the sofa with his father began muttering under her breath about finally having an excuse to clear those nuisances out of the park. His father remarked that it still would not be easy to get rid of all of them.

~ x x x x x ~

**Year 2043**

William gazed into the crib at his sleeping two year old daughter. Today was her second birthday. Word was that the creature hunting craze was finally, after two years, dying down to the point where the council had begun talking about the possibility of reopening the park accesses sometime in the near future. He was looking forward to being able to take little Karen up into the park. Maybe someday soon.

~ o ~

Patricia headed back to the dorm. Another fruitless night. At least the crowd of creature hunters in the park had thinned out lately. In the last two years she had often thought about giving up but she felt she owed it to her sister's memory to find that creature and stop it before another girl disappeared. She still had a paper to finish before next week so she quickened her pace.

Stopping off at the little used storage closet in the biology building, she hid her gun and darts. Then she hurried back to the dorm room. Carolyn knew that Patricia went out on weekend evenings to search for that monster they had seen but she didn't know about the gun.

Patricia still berated herself over that incident last Halloween. If she had been caught it could have ruined her. Fortunately no one had been really hurt and the no one had seen her creeping off into the deeper forest nearby so it had eventually blown over. At least it had contributed to the recent decline in the number of people haunting the park at night.

Because of the heightened police presence, she had been forced to stay away from the park for over two months. Now she was much more cautious, she wouldn't make that mistake again.

~ o ~

Jacob and Linda were discussing the latest developments from above. The hunters in the park were finally showing signs of giving up. A couple of obvious hoaxes pulled off in the park last summer by some friends and helpers had hastened the beginning disillusionment of the more serious hunters.

The dart gun incident of last Halloween had given the city an excuse to crack down on the hunters somewhat. That teenager had been in a beast costume that was uncomfortably accurate when he had been shot by that tranquilizer dart. They never found the shooter and, thankfully, the teenager had recovered. It made Linda shiver to think of that happening to Jacob. The publicity and public outcry had changed the hunters from harmless objects of amusement, to an unpopular nuisance.

They were both looking forward to being able to spend time together in the park at night again. Jacob swore that after this they would be more alert for other people when above.

~ x x x x x ~

Halloween was once again upon them and for the first time in two and a half years the Chandler-Wells clan deemed it safe to venture Above again. There was a big Halloween concert planned for the Central Park band shell and the public was encouraged to come in costume. William's costume was just his normal attire from Below. His parents were dressed in costumes from the ballroom scene in that old Disney Beauty and the Beast video. Little two and a half year old Karen was dressed in the cutest little big game hunter outfit that Aunt Linda had found for her.

Uncle Jacob was in a costume based on the old French version of Beauty and the Beast. His aunt Linda however looked absolutely incredible in a forest sprite costume that she had gotten from Grandmother Catherine. His uncle had been completely blown away when he first saw her in it.

Brother Joseph's costume was based on the old 2015 Puss n Boots video. His wife Paulette was dressed as Catwoman from the Batman movies.

When they arrived above little Karen was delighted by the vista of grass and trees and the full moon hanging in the sky above. They played for a while in the fields before the concert. Suddenly William became aware of _elation_ and _frustration_ in equal parts then it was quickly tempered by _caution_. At that moment Karen jumped out of the bush and shouted, "**Bang**," as she waved a stick that had transformed itself into a hunting rifle in her hands. _Fear_ , _Surprise_? William clutched his chest dramatically and collapsed to the ground while trying to determine the source of the unusually strong emotions he was sensing. _Disappointment_. Karen ran up to him and sing-songed, "Me got lion. Me got lion,"

His sister Clarissa came up to them in her pirate queen costume. "Come on you two, the concert starts in just a few minutes."

The _disappointment_ faded as they headed to the band shell.

~ o ~

Patricia had come to the park without her gun. The park would be full of people and patrolling police tonight and she couldn't risk being seen with it. The incident of last Halloween was still fresh in some people's minds.

As she wandered near the band shell she caught sight of something large moving in the open area to her right. It was the creature; she saw it clearly in the moonlight. Finally she had it and her gun was at home. Then a little child popped up from a bush halfway between her and the creature. Before she could do anything, the child pointed a stick at the creature and shouted "Bang."

Much to her surprise the creature clutched at its chest and died dramatically. Then the child ran over to the creature singing about killing the lion. A few seconds later a young woman approached from another direction urging them both to hurry because the concert would be starting soon.

Overcome in disappointment, Patricia turned and headed away from the park. She should have known. The real creature would never come out with this many people hanging around. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't see Harold, Carolyn and Darren until she nearly collided with them.

"Patty, you're here. Are you going to the concert?" Harold was smiling at her. Their relationship had been a little strained lately. He knew that she was keeping some secret from him but he had no idea what it was.

"No, I'm going home." She responded.

"I have an extra ticket. You could go in with me." He waved the spare ticket, giving her his most winning smile.

Finally she relented and accepted his offer. The four of them headed into the outdoor theater.

As she was glancing around at the crowd during the concert, she counted no less than twelve Creatures of Central Park. And that didn't include the Beauty and the Beast couples. There was even a Puss n Boots less than ten feet away that looked remarkably like the creature. Even if the creature did come out, how was she to tell it from all of these imposters? She gave in to the inevitable, relaxed and listened to the music with Harold.

_**Continued in Part 3**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	3. Hunters and Hunted

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 3 :** **Hunters and Hunted**

**Year 2044**

William was helping James enlarge his chamber to accommodate his soon to be expanding family. Now that little Karen had turned three last month, it looked like he would soon have to do the same thing to his own chamber. It was getting late and he and James were beginning to put away their tools when Teresa rushed in. "William, Karen is missing. She was supposed to be asleep and I was dealing with a medical emergency. When I went to check on her, she was gone."

William paused reaching out with his senses. It required serious concentration because he had never formed the type of link that the other's had formed with their children. He had asked Vincent about this once and he had told him that it was because she was not his natural child. Vincent said that it had been the same with him and Naomi. Though he did have a connection with her it was very tenuous and took concentration.

For nearly fifteen minutes he slowly pushed his awareness outward trying to get any hint of her presence. Then he had her. "She's Above!" He called out in surprise as he bolted out of there at a dead run. 'How did she get all the way to the surface so fast?' He kept asking himself as he ran. She did have a tendency to wander and he often called her his little explorer. It did mean that she had become quite a handful as she became more mobile. This wasn't the first time she had wandered off but it was the first time she had wandered so far without being spotted. For that matter how had she gotten all the way to the surface without being spotted by any of the sentries?

He soon reached the surface and cautiously looked around. There was no moon out but it was a clear spring night. He couldn't sense any hunters nearby tonight, they had tapered off to almost nothing over the last six months. He ventured forth. She was over by the band shell. Again he was wondering how in the world she had gotten there. Then again how had she gotten out of the tunnels in the first place? All of the exit points were closed and she was not tall enough to reach the control switches to open any of those hidden doors. That kid was always getting into places she shouldn't be able to reach.

As he made his way towards the band shell he became aware of another presence. A hunter. There was that same feeling of _stealthy watchfulness_. There was also a _resigned_, _reluctant_ _determination_, as thought the hunter was doing this because he felt he had to. As William crept forward, his empathic sense wide open he detected a hint of slow _seething anger_ combined with an _aching sorrow_ crouched deep in the background of the hunter's heart. Some past tragedy must be driving this one. Now a new element, _indecision_, _confusion_, _worry_, was added to the mix. Something had just happened and the hunter wasn't sure what to do about it. William was getting close now.

There he . . . no she . . . was in that clump of bushes. Karen was over next to the band shell. He would be in plain sight of the hunter when he reached his daughter. Silently, as only someone with his cat like grace could be, he crept closer. The emotion of _worry_ was becoming stronger in the hunter. From his position deep in the shadows he could clearly see the hunter. With her poorer, normal, eyesight and the deep midnight green of his hooded cloak, she could not see him standing there less than fifteen feet from her. He was immediately struck by her beauty. His heart skipped a beat as he gazed at her face as she slowly scanned her surroundings. It took an effort of will to drag his eyes away.

William glanced from her to Karen and back. The hunter could clearly see Karen from her hiding place. It looked like she was watching the child. He suspected from her emotional mix that she was debating what she should do. Then she apparently decided, the _worry_ had won out, and she started to get up from her position. He had to distract her before she could take Karen away and leave her in the care of the bureaucracy.

Picking up a fist sized rock, he threw it as far to the hunter's right as possible. With a spurt of _surprise_, _fear_ and _determination_ she swung towards the sound and brought something up from her side. A gun! She was carrying a gun! This was bad. He picked up another rock and threw it a little further away from the band shell. She swung further to her right, following the sound and took a couple of indecisive steps in that direction. She stopped and glanced back at Karen, her _indecision_ stronger. William realized that he needed to convince her that the child was safe.

Quickly he backed off until he was well out of her sight then moved around until he was as close to Karen as possible without being seen. He called out. "Where are you Pumpkin?"

Karen responded immediately. "Daddy?" She turned towards him. "**Daddy**!" Then she started running towards him.

That had done it. The hunter took off in the direction she had heard the stones land and William scooped up Karen and sprinted for the culvert and the tunnel access.

After a little mild scolding about wandering off alone, Karen was put to bed and William also settled in for the night. He read for a while then went to sleep. That night nearly every dream was haunted by that hunter's face. When he awoke the next morning she was still on his mind.

Throughout the day William couldn't get the hunter out of his mind. Something about her seemed to reach something deep inside him. There was also something oddly familiar about that hunter's face but he couldn't remember ever seeing her before. By late afternoon James' new chamber was finished so after a quick clean-up, William spent the rest of the day playing with his daughter. Occasionally he would catch a hint of emotion that seemed out of sync with those around him but they were so fleeting that he could never be sure. That night again his sleep was haunted by visions of that female hunter.

~ x x x x x ~

All during the next morning he kept being distracted by feelings of _anxiety_, _frustration_ and finally an unexplainable feeling of _exaltation_. Most of the afternoon he felt happy, accomplished, and assumed it was just pride that he had successfully completed the particularly difficult task of finishing the chamber for James. Later that evening he was hit by a strong sense of _erotic excitement_ that lasted for almost an hour but he was unable to isolate the source. Someone in the tunnels must have gotten lucky. That night despite being dead tired from a whole day of rock cutting on his own new chamber expansion, William had a restless night. He kept feeling discontent and uncertain. Finally he fell asleep. Once again the face of the hunter haunted his dreams.

The next day William and his family spent most of the day at the waterfall lake. The only one missing was his mother, Elizabeth. She was in court today prosecuting a particularly important and difficult case. His older brother, Peter was there with his wife, Cherry, and their three children, David, Catherine and Robert. His little brother, Joseph was there with his bride of four years, Paulette. His sister, Clarissa had taken time off from her job in the DA office and was also here. Together with his father, Charles, and himself they were all engaged in a very energetic and very wet game of Marco Polo. Little Catherine was 'it'.

William glanced over at the shallower water where Peter's youngest, Robert, and his little Karen were happily splashing each other under the watchful eyes of William's youngest brother, Joseph, and his wife. She was currently pregnant with their first child. Joseph had recently taken to teasing him about being still unmarried and wondering if he would ever find a girl to match his exacting standards of perfection. William had occasionally wondered the same thing. He was twenty-seven years old and none of the young women he knew seemed to appeal to him in that way. Part of the problem was that his baby brother's wife had left an impression on him that none of them could measure up to. As he gazed at the two of them, William began trying to picture himself in the same scene. After a few seconds he was surprised to find that the woman in his mental image had the hunter's face. William was startled out of his reverie by the excited voice of Catherine shouting, "got you!" as she wrapped her arms around his legs.

As they all sat around the campfire that evening roasting hotdogs, his mind kept returning to that same image of himself and that hunter. Why her? What was it about her that kept her popping up in his mind?

~ x x x x x ~

It was close to midnight the next night when William made his way to the surface, to enjoy the fresh night air, he had told himself. With his senses wide open he wandered through the park. After about an hour he had lost interest. Soon he headed back Below, just slightly disappointed. The feeling of discontent would not lift and again he spent a restless night. The next night after Karen was asleep, he again found himself haunting the park. Again he went below feeling dissatisfied and spent another restless night. His dreams were filled with that image of himself and the hunter sitting on the beach by the waterfall lake.

On the third night he sensed her as soon as he reached the surface. She was over by the band shell, hiding in the same clump of bushes as last time. He crept up to the same vantage point as before and just stood there watching her. He felt an unaccustomed desire building within him as he watched her scanning the area.

Suddenly she whipped around and peered in his direction, _surprise_ and _fear_ paramount in her emotions. He stood there frozen as she appeared to be fumbling with something on the ground beside her. The next moment her arm swung up and he was blinded by an intensely bright light as her _surprise_ intensified. Then he was hit by an explosion of _rage_ and _hate_ radiating from her like a beacon.

There was a soft pop sound and something passed close to him barely grazing the hairs of his right arm. Now _frustration_ and _determination_ entered the mix of her emotions. He took a step backwards. Another pop and he felt a sharp pain in his upper thigh. He looked down to see a dart sticking in his leg. Now he felt _triumph_ emanating from her, as he pulled the dart from his leg. Then after a moment, _frustration_ and _fear_, as he heard her cursing. The bright light wavered and he saw her struggling with her gun. The _fear_ in her rapidly escalated, edging toward panic, as the wavering of the light became much more violent.

He finally spun on his heels and bolted away from there. He felt _surprise_, _relief_ and finally _frustration_ from her as he ran into the deeper undergrowth. As soon as he was out of her sight he turned towards the old culvert where the hidden door was located. By the time he reached the culvert he was feeling groggy and his arms and legs were losing coordination. He stumbled and fell at the mouth of the culvert. He shook his head, dragged himself back to his feet and staggered down the storm drain to the hidden door. It took him three tries before he could trigger the switch. He staggered down the tunnels until he reached the spiral stairway. His mind was so foggy by now that he barely knew what he was doing or why. He continued to struggle through the growing lethargy as he made his way down the stairs. He couldn't even remember what he was doing or why he was here.

Then the world began to swirl around him as it faded out.

~ o ~

Patricia was in the same place as last weekend when she had spotted that little girl. She was sure the creature had been near that night. She just hoped that little girl had found her father before the creature found them. She still felt a twinge of guilt about going after that other sound before seeing the girl find her father.

The hairs stood up on the back of her neck and she felt like she was being watched but when she looked around there was nothing. She shifted her position and continued to scan the area. During her research she had mapped the location of all the documented sightings over the last seventy-five years. This spot was at the center of the area covered by the marks. Also nearly a third of the sightings had happened within five hundred yards of this spot.

A shiver ran up her spine as she felt eyes upon her and she whipped around to her left, peering into the shadows of the corps of trees over there. Her heart was pounding as she searched for the source of her unease. Then she saw a movement among the shadows. She fumbled with the gun at her side trying to find the switch above the trigger then she swung the gun up flipping the switch of the flashlight attached to it. There it was only fifteen feet away. There could be no mistaking that leonine visage or those clawed fur covered hands. The old _rage_ and _hatred_ came boiling to the surface. This was the monster that had taken her sister. She almost absentmindedly noted that it seemed to be mesmerized by the light on her gun as she fought to control her trembling hand.

She pulled the trigger. In the bright light she saw the dart streak into the folds of his cloak right between his forearm and his body. The creature backed up a step as she quickly popped a second dart into the gun, she had practiced this quick reload so many times it had become second nature, and fired a second shot. This time she hit it in its upper leg. She had him. She saw the creature pull the dart from its leg and when she tried to put a third dart into the gun it wouldn't go. Now she began to feel the beginnings of _panic_. The creature wasn't going down and she couldn't get the gun reloaded. She had images of being torn to pieces by that thing because of the damn gun jamming.

The creature turned and ran into the deeper shadows of the wooded area. Then it was gone. She relaxed in relief, and with a click the bolt finally retracted and the dart slid into the breach. Cautiously she approached the place where it had stood. The greenery was trampled here and she could see the path of its retreat. She was able to follow the trail to the other side of the trees. She lost it on the hard ground and began to search for any sign of its passage. Near a storm drain culvert she found one of her darts. There was blood on its point. This is the one that had hit the creature.

She felt a cold shiver of fear as she gazed into the dark maw of the culvert. Most hunters knew better than to chase a dangerous prey into its lair. Finally she screwed up her courage and headed in. She was able to follow footprints to a five way junction where they ended. She glanced around looking for some sign of where it had gone.

One of the branches had been walled off long ago, which left three possibilities. Then she noticed a patch of fresh mud on one of the bars of the old rusted gate across the opening of the walled off branch. She yanked on the gate but it wouldn't budge. A closer inspection showed that the lock had rusted solid. Besides, the wall was only about four feet beyond the gate. The creature wasn't here.

She spent a couple of hours searching the three tunnels as far as her courage would let her, but she could find no other signs of the creature. Finally she ended up back at the junction. She gazed speculatively at the metal gate. She spent several minutes examining it trying to find a way to open it. Finally she gave up. That gate had probably been there for a hundred years and there was no way anyone would get through it without a torch or a hacksaw. At least now she had a good idea where the Creature disappeared to. Next time it emerged from its lair she would be waiting for it.

~ o ~

It was very early in the morning and Ellen was on her way back from her turn on watch. As usual she was taking the long way back by way of the southern spiral stairs. She had always been fascinated by them. Rumor had it that a strange witch had once lived somewhere near the bottom of it and her ghost could sometimes be heard whispering magic incantations down there.

She froze as she saw a dark pile of clothing on the stairs below her. It moved and groaned then was still. She felt fear rise as she thought of the old stories. She got a hold of herself and advanced on the now motionless pile. When she reached out and cautiously moved it, she recognized William. There was blood on the side of his face and he was barely breathing. She ran down to the next level and banged out an S.O.S on the first pipe she found. After getting an acknowledgement she hurried back to William.

Twenty minutes later a half dozen people arrived including Doctor Teresa and lead by Jacob and Charles. As they started to lift William onto the litter, Henry yelped and pulled his hand away from William. They had gone less that twenty feet when Henry stumbled and went down. Teresa examined Henry then very cautiously checked over William in the area where Henry had been lifting him. She found the dart caught in the folds of his cloak and grimly showed it to the rest. Nobody said anything on the way to the infirmary. Ellen stayed behind and signaled for more people to fetch Henry.

As soon as they had gotten William into one of the screened off chambers of the infirmary, Charles headed straight to the main pipe chamber and issued a general warning that there was an armed hunter somewhere in the park. By the time he got back Teresa had finished her examination of William and was checking out Henry.

"How is he Doctor?" Charles asked anxiously.

"William hit his skull pretty hard when he fell on those stairs. He also has several large bruises from his fall." She shook her head her eyes blazing with barely suppressed anger as she held up the dart. "William and Henry both got a dose of whatever is in this. I found the spot on William's leg where a dart got him." The anger in her voice increased in intensity. "I'm taking this up to the hospital to find out what was in it, and then I'm taking it to Elizabeth." She stormed out of the chamber leaving Charles blinking at the strength of her emotions. He finally headed back to the brownstone. Elizabeth would want to know.

~ o ~

From the moment Patricia got up the next morning she had felt wrong like there was something out of kilter. Her emotions seemed distorted, fragmented. She put it off to being upset over getting so close last night and blowing it. When she arrived at the Park that evening she noticed that there was an unusually large number of people hanging around the area by the band shell so she didn't stop. When she got back to her apartment she threw her gun on the bed in frustration and engaged in a little spate of useless ranting. She had finally located the entrance to the lair of the monster that had taken her little sister only to be stopped by a bunch of tourists hanging around the area.

Carolyn woke up and asked her if she was OK, causing her to have to scramble to cover the gun before her dorm mate saw it. That had been so stupid. What was wrong with her? Her emotions were so chaotic. Finally she calmed down enough to go to bed. There was always next weekend. Her sleep was disturbed by dark dreams that melted away as soon as she woke up. Try as she might she was unable to recall any of them afterward.

~ o ~

That evening Teresa had the results from the lab. The chemical in the dart was determined to be a homemade compound that, though strong and very fast acting, was relatively harmless. Unfortunately, as Teresa had feared, the compound was from the family of sedatives that all of Vincent's male decedents were allergic to. Since she didn't know how strong a dose William had gotten nor how exactly his system might react to it, Teresa couldn't predict how much danger he might be in. She decided to institute a twenty-four hour watch on him until they had a better idea. Fortunately, Henry woke up twenty hours later non-the-worse for wear. The park prohibition was reinstated by the council.

Karen was very worried and upset about her daddy. Though she didn't fully understand everything, she had overheard enough to know that someone had tried to hurt him and it would take a while before he was OK again. In the meantime she was staying with Uncle Peter's family.

~ x x x x x ~

Monday morning Patricia arrived at school, still feeling out of sorts, to find several police officers, her professor and the department head standing around in the biology lab. They had all three of the lab's tranquilizer guns laid out on a table. The biology department head was nervously wringing his hands as a man in a suit was speaking to the professor. "Are you positive these are the only ones in the school?" He asked rather aggressively.

"I'm positive, sir." The professor answered. "The school only has those three."

The detective was disappointed. "It can't be from here then. Those are all the wrong caliber for the dart we found." He shook his head in disgust. "Let's go." One of the officers gathered up a small collection of sample vials and they all left.

"What was that all about?" She asked her professor.

He shook his head. "Someone's been shooting trank darts at people in Central Park over the weekend." He wiped his head with a lab rag. "I told them the dart they showed me wouldn't fit our guns. They didn't even make that size when the school bought those guns. They took samples of every liquid in the lab anyway."

Patricia felt a shiver go up her spine as she thought how close they had come to finding her. But where and how had they found her missing dart? She was glad now that she had made her own compound rather than using one from the lab. As soon as she got home from school she hid the gun and the remaining darts as carefully as she could. For the rest of the week she kept feeling a prickling sensation between her shoulder blades. She was getting paranoid.

~ x x x x x ~

Elizabeth was frustrated. She had managed to get half of the police force out looking for the person that had shot her son without involving him or the tunnel community, yet after a whole week they had turned up nothing. The dart was a relatively common and cheep type from Africa and was probably sold over the internet, making it impossible to trace. The gun could have come from anywhere. That particular caliber was commonly used for paintball guns which could easily be modified for shooting this type of dart. It was in fact a common practice among African poachers.

William was still unconscious and Teresa suspected he had gotten a pretty strong dose of the tranquilizer. At least he was still alive but he had developed a fever and Karen had been kept out of his chamber for her own safety. Elizabeth hit her desktop in frustration. If she ever got her hands on that hunter . . .

She was interrupted by the detective. "We've checked every institution that could have supplied the gun and found no matches for either the dart or the compound." He paused checking his notebook. "Because of that incident a year ago last Halloween, we checked out all of the known Creature of Central Park groups but were unable to find any links. However the dart from that incident was the same type and the compound contents matched." He closed his notebook. "Were you able to identify the informant?"

"I'm afraid not detective, sorry." She responded. That would have been impossible since there was no informant. As the detective left her office, a messenger showed up with a message for her. One of the helpers had located two more of those trucks that she had been looking for. That made eight.

She looked up John Stetson in her contacts list and sent the information of the two new locations. Ever since the summer of '89 there had been a rather peculiar relationship between the tunnel community and a clandestine organization in Washington DC. She knew the organization operated out of a front called International Federated Films and she suspected that her contact was pretty high up in that organization. All that her contact knew was that there was a vast network of some kind in New York that could be contacted through her in the DA's office. She wasn't sure what this was about but she had received a request from them for help in locating nine trucks of a certain type that they suspected were hidden in New York. She had no idea why they were looking for those trucks but every time she heard from that organization it seemed to involve foiling some terrorist plot so she always tried to find whatever it was they wanted.

The message having been sent, Elizabeth went back to fuming about the hunter in the park. Meanwhile William continued to hover on the edge. His fever had risen dramatically and he would occasionally toss violently in his delirium, his bed soaked in his own sweat. Karen was very upset because her daddy was very sick and they wouldn't let her in to see him.

_**Continued in Part 4**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	4. Unrequited

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 4 :** **Unrequited**

All week Patricia had been feeling distorted, unfocused, paranoid. Several nights she woke up from disturbing disjointed nightmares to find her bed soaked in her own sweat. That weekend she went to the park without her gun just to see if there had been any developments. Everything looked normal but she was still feeling wrong and paranoid so she decided to skip this week. As she walked past the band shell on her way back home she recognized a man, apparently snoozing on a park bench, as one of the cops she had seen at the college. She may be paranoid but it seemed she was also right.

Damn, there was no way she could hunt down that monster while the cops were watching. It was looking like it could be as bad as Halloween a year and a half ago. Frustrated, she headed home, the disjointed feelings of unease continuing to plague her. Again her dreams were dark and disturbing yet nothing remained of them when she woke up.

~ x x x x x ~

Harold wandered into her room to find Patricia in a foul mood. After last Halloween's concert their relationship had improved but something had happened almost two weeks ago that had altered everything. Carolyn had confided to him that Patty had become moody and very restless right after those cops had come to the college asking about the school's trank guns. He had also noticed that their relationship had become severely strained after that incident as well. He suspected that the visit by the cops had triggered this change. They both knew she had once again become deeply immersed in her hunt for the creature.

The first thing he noticed was a map of Manhattan on her desk with red marks scattered all over the area around Central Park. Beside it was a map of Central Park with a spot near the band shell circled in red.

"What do you want?" She snapped at him.

"Patty, are you OK?" He asked. "What is this all about?" He pointed to the maps she was hovering over.

"Nothing." She snapped back. "Mind your own business."

"It's about that creature isn't it?" He responded. "You have got to stop obsessing about it, Patty. It's been three years since that night." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we go out to dinner? Get your mind off this for a while."

"I'm not hungry. Go away." She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and turned her back on him effectively dismissing him. Dispirited he turned away and left the room. He missed the old Patty. Some how he needed to find a way to bring her out of her dark mood.

After a few minutes Patricia looked up from her maps. That had been no way to treat Harold. She was immediately sorry. What was wrong with her? Why was she always so off kilter, so irritable, so angry? It was that damn creature. It was messing up her life. Somehow she had to find it and put an end to this. If she could get a map of the city's storm drain system, maybe she could find out where it was hiding.

~ x x x x x ~

For over a week and a half William continued to hover on the edge. Teresa worried about the way he thrashed around in his delirium. She was afraid he might injure himself. Finally his body burned the last of the foreign compound out of his system. When he woke up he was weak but within a few days he had recovered, physically, almost completely. The crack in his skull still bothered him but that was a minor irritation. Little Karen was overjoyed to have her daddy back.

Though William seemed to be recovered, there was a kind of distant quality about him now. His parents attributed it to being shot or possibly an after effect of the drug. Little Karen began wondering if she had done something wrong. All William's father knew was that his emotions were still in turmoil. His mother became even more determined to find the hunter who shot him.

William kept seeing that woman's beautiful face every time he closed his eyes. She haunted his dreams. What was worse was that he was also being haunted by her emotions. He had begun to realize that he was experiencing her feelings shortly after he awoke from the illness her dart had caused. Once he realized it was the hunter from the park that he was sensing he had railed against the cruelty of the universe. It seemed that every time he thought he had found the perfect mate that he could have a real relationship with it had fallen apart. One potential mate had ended up married to his little brother and another was now living in Paris with her new husband. Now, to top it off, he had become entangled with a woman that seemed to want to do him harm. Haunted by her beauty and linked to her emotions William was trapped. There was no way he could escape her, she was lodged so deeply in his mind. Finally, emotionally exhausted, William dragged himself back up to his chamber and collapsed into his bed. Unable to fall asleep, he grabbed a book and tried to read himself to sleep.

While reading in his bed William suddenly sat up with a start. She was in the park, he could feel her presence, and there was _wariness_ and _determination_ there . . . and _sadness_. She was unhappy about something. The _wariness_ increased dramatically joined by _disappointment_ and a trace of _fear_. She was moving away. All the while the _anger_ and the _sadness_ simmered in the back of her mind.

William clamped down on his sense of her but he couldn't close it off completely so he was still aware of her presence. The _anger_ and _sadness_ he had felt in her bothered him. Where did that come from and was that what was driving her? He knew that his mother had the police hunting for her but he didn't really want her caught.

The next night it happened again. She was in the park. Was she aware that the park was being watched? He was in turmoil. He hated being hunted and he wanted it to stop. But he didn't want her to get caught and he didn't really want her to go away. Something in her touched something deep inside him. Again she left shortly, _disappointed_ and _sad_.

~ o ~

Harold stopped by Patty's room. She wasn't there. He was troubled by how distant she had become. They had been friends for several years and he was afraid that she was being consumed by her obsession with that damn Central Park Creature.

The next morning he stopped by her room again. This time she was in. He managed to talk her into going out for lunch with him. All through lunch she made polite conversation but her mind seemed to be miles away. Though he was able to draw her attention with an occasional joke or witty remark, she would soon be off in her own world again. In the end the lunch accomplished nothing.

After dropping her off, Harold went home dejected. He was losing a friend to an obsession that he couldn't totally deny her, because he had been there and seen what happened that night as well. He also knew how close she had been to her little sister before Karen had disappeared. But it still pained him to see her loosing herself like this.

~ x x x x x ~

It had been several days now without his hunter's appearance in the park and his link to her seemed to be somewhat tenuous so that he could only feel her if she was in the park. William was beginning to wonder what had happened to her. He was glad that she wasn't in the park where she might get caught, but he also missed her presence. He had been spending more of his spare time at the waterfall lake, thinking about his problem. He could feel his parent's worry but he didn't feel able to confide in them. His mother was too set on catching his hunter and he didn't want that.

As he sat by the lake he opened his sense. At first he felt nothing, then after a while he began to just barely sense her. She was still there in his mind. Her apparent position placed her somewhere around the college campus. She must be a student there. For the next several days he had tried to ignore her presence but, despite his best intentions, he couldn't help returning often to the emotions he was sensing from her.

Days later he was again laying on the sand at the waterfall lake feeling the flow of her emotions over the link. There was _alertness_, _concentration_. She was working very intently on something. He felt her falter. There was a moment of _irritation_ then it was gone and her emotions returned to whatever she was working on.

~ o ~

Patricia was deep into her term paper. There was plenty of time until it was due but she wanted to get it done soon before she had to start studying for finals, and it took her mind off her frustration. For the last three weeks the park had been watched by the police. It was so maddening. Oddly enough, after one very emotionally tumultuous afternoon, the unfocused, off kilter feeling had disappeared along with the nightmares. In fact she had actually been feeling pretty good, more secure, lately, despite the undercover police presence in the park. She could almost describe it as feeling that a guardian angel was watching over her.

She became irritated and dragged her mind back to her paper. She was doing her paper on the how genetic mutation could give rise to a new species. She began to wonder if that could explain the creature. No, that was impossible. There was no closely related species that it could have come from. The whole thing made no sense.

She was interrupted by a knock on her door. She grumbled as she got up. What now?

When she opened the door it was Harold. He was holding a quart of Rocky Road ice cream, two spoons and a yellow carnation. "Peace offering?" He spoke plaintively.

Harold sure knew her weakness. She knew that Carolyn was out with her latest boyfriend and was not expected back until very late tonight. She glanced again at his wistful smile then gave in and invited him in.

~ o ~

Something had interrupted his hunter's train of thought. William was alert and intrigued despite himself. She was _annoyed_, then _amused_ and _relieved_. Her mood was now much lighter.

After a while there was a slowly growing _romantic_ element in her emotions. William was becoming uneasy. He wasn't sure he liked this. He wanted to break the contact but he couldn't bring himself to do so. This went on for over an hour as William began to pace the beach becoming more agitated.

An _erotic_ element appeared and quickly began to grow much stronger within her. At the same time William felt an ache growing deep inside himself. His stomach roiled at the thought of her being with another man. The _erotic_ emotions suddenly began to jump towards a peak and William felt as though a spike was being driven right through his heart. With an anguished cry he broke the contact and collapsed to the sand in despair.

~ o ~

Patricia and Harold were on a blanket on the floor, the quart of ice cream empty, watching her favorite old video. It was one of those sappy romantic stories. Deep down she had always been a hopeless romantic and she believed in the concept of the perfect soul mate. Though she really liked Harold and always enjoyed their time together, the soul deep connection that she craved just was not there. Still, she did enjoy their physical liaisons. Harold was getting amorous and she was responding. They were down to their underwear and she could feel her desire rising rapidly as their hands began exploring, by now, familiar territory.

Suddenly she felt as though someone else was in the room with them. Then she was hit by a wave of emotional _pain_ that was overwhelming. She broke away from Harold in shock and surprise. Then just as suddenly the pain was gone and she felt cold and alone like she had just lost a part of her soul. It was like the empty feeling that morning she awoke to find her sister missing, only a hundred times worse.

She sat there on her heels shivering, her eyes wide in shock. Harold meanwhile was trying to regain his own composure. He felt like a fast moving train that had suddenly been derailed. The engine of his libido had been stopped dead but the reaction rolled on as his emotions continued to crash against each other. What had happened? What had he done wrong?

Finally he got his own reactions under control. "Patty?" He asked hesitantly.

She continued to sit there stunned and shivering, staring into space. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He reached out tentatively and touched her shoulder. "Patty?"

She slowly looked at him, her eyes glimmering with a hint of tears. She shook her head. "I . . . I can't . . . do this." She turned away from him. "I'm sorry, Harold . . . I can't . . ." She grabbed her clothes and quickly retreated to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and collapsed to the floor weeping. The cold emptiness inside her would not go away.

Harold sat there stunned. Something had happened and the door between them was now closed, literally and figuratively. He had always known that there would never be the type of love between them that she craved but now even the tenuous sexual connection between them had snapped. It was obvious that something new had come between them.

Sadly he got up, gathered his clothes and dressed. He softly knocked on the bathroom door. "Patty?" He called out quietly.

She heard Harold call to her from the other side of the door. She knew she had hurt him deeply but she just couldn't face him right now. "Please, Harold, just go away." She sobbed. She wasn't sure if she could ever face him again. She only knew that their easy casual sexual relationship was ended.

With his head hung and spirit gone, Harold left the dorm room. He didn't know how or why but he knew that, somehow, he had lost something that he would sorely miss.

~ o ~

As Patricia lay in bed later that night trying to understand what had happened. She realized that for a while now there had been a subtle warmth within her soul as though someone had been watching over her. Now it was gone, because of what she and Harold had been doing, and the emptiness left behind was overwhelming. She missed that warmth and wanted it back so much it hurt. The tears returned as the loss again overwhelmed her.

Carolyn came home and found Patricia in her bed weeping. What could have happened? She had known about Harold's plans for the evening. That was why the lateness of her return. Carolyn sat down on Patricia's bed and held her, trying to comfort her as she cried herself to sleep. Tomorrow she would have to talk to Harold and find out what went wrong.

~ o ~

William roared, he railed, he ran through the lower caverns like a madman trying to erase the last two hours from his memory. The pain of totally cutting himself off from her was as bad as the pain of being connected. He had never thought he could hurt so badly. Finally he collapsed on the floor of the tunnel exhausted.

An hour later his father found him there. Though William had closed himself off, Charles could still feel his turmoil. As he quietly sat there waiting for his son to acknowledge his presence he worried. What could have had such an effect on his son? He had already checked on Karen and she was sound asleep. He had felt for the rest of the family and they were all safe and well. Whatever it was, it seemed to have pierced his son to the depths of his soul.

When William finally acknowledged his father's presence Charles helped him to his feet and together they made their way back to William's chamber.

For a while Charles watched his son sleeping. Whatever had happened was still a mystery. William had been unable or unwilling to tell him what was wrong. He glanced over into Karen's small alcove where she slept soundly, shook his head sadly and headed back up to his own home.

~ x x x x x ~

Patricia woke up in her bed, still in her robe and underwear from last night. She felt discontent, cold, wrong somehow. As she mechanically went about her morning routine, she wondered if she was coming down with something. Then it hit her. The emptiness was still there. The missing warmth was real. She sat back down on her bed and was nearly overwhelmed again by a wave of sorrow. How could she miss something so much that, until last night, she had not really known was there? What was it? Why had it gone?

Carolyn came over and sat down on Patricia's bed next to her and asked her how she was doing. Finally Patricia pulled herself together and indicated that she was OK. She pointed out that they both had class today and needed to get going.

Reluctantly Carolyn left to attend her own classes. Patricia headed out shortly afterward for her first class.

~ x x x x x ~

Charles and Elizabeth were worried. William was different somehow. He was still William but some of the joy was gone. He was still the same kind loving person and his care of Karen was unchanged but there was something missing. When they tried to get him to talk about what was wrong, he just refused to discuss it.

Charles had also noticed that William became very reserved whenever the subject of the hunter came up. He knew that William was holding something back about that hunter. For now he could only support his son and hope he could work his way through whatever was bothering him. Elizabeth was sure that William's current mood had something to do with that damn hunter that had shot him but her efforts to locate or capture him were coming up empty.

When Elizabeth got to work the next Monday she was informed that the extra patrols and stakeouts of the park were being discontinued. She fumed but there was nothing she could do about it

William knew how worried his mother was but he couldn't tell her anything for fear that she might find his hunter. Whatever else happened he couldn't let her get caught. They were enemies and she seemed to be causing him nothing but pain yet he couldn't stand the thought of her being caught and locked away.

~ x x x x x ~

Patricia went to the park as usual but her heart just wasn't in it. She didn't even check to see if the stakeout was still in place. She just wandered aimlessly for a while then went home.

Over the next few weeks she went through her classes without really becoming engaged. She avoided Harold. How could she ever explain herself to him? She even avoided Carolyn who wanted to help but could never understand what was bothering her. She didn't really understand it herself.

Then one weekend she returned to the park and something was different but it took her a while to realize what it was. Finally she noticed that the normal surveillance contingent was missing. She started paying more attention to her surroundings. They were gone. There was no one in sight. Now she had her chance. Now she could finally catch that monster and bring it down.

That next Monday Patricia noticed that her grades had started to slip. She couldn't let that happen. Finals would begin in one week. She started to re-engage in her classes though, now, her emotions seemed to be blunted, quiescent. Over the next few weeks things slowly got back to normal and she successfully completed her finals. However that emptiness, that absence of something, continued to haunt her. Even her hunting had lost its emotional edge and become a simple intellectual exercise.

~ x x x x x ~

As the summer semester slowly passed by Harold mourned the loss of the casual relationship he had once had with Patty. He also mourned the absence of the joy that she had once been so full of. The loss of her little sister had hit her hard but it had been nothing like what she seemed to be going through now. He often passed her on the campus and they were civil even reasonably friendly but there was a barrier there between them that he just couldn't breach.

Carolyn was also worried about her dorm mate and, after a while, she and Harold began to bond over their mutual concern. Carolyn tried to draw her out but Patricia seemed unable to articulate what was wrong. Sometimes she and Harold would get together and try to figure out how they might help Patricia out of her malaise.

~ o ~

That summer Elizabeth became involved in a major embezzlement case that soon took up all of her spare time. The man at the head of the scheme had been very smart and had done a good job of obscuring his connection to the operation. It took a lot of work to dig out the links within the company. The swindle might have continued for years had there not been a sudden and totally unlikely shift in a certain commodity thanks to an attack by a mid-eastern terrorist group. She never thought she would find herself grateful for a terrorist attack. Now she was up to her elbows in legal briefs and evidence ledgers. Knowing what he had done and proving it were totally different animals. It didn't help that he had a very sharp legal team behind him.

~ o ~

Throughout that summer William seemed much like his old self but those that knew him best could sense the air of quiet despair that continued to lurk, well hidden, in the background. He had figured out that his hunter only haunted the park on the weekends but he couldn't tell anyone else for fear of giving her away.

Karen had noticed the hint of sorrow in her daddy and was extra careful to try to please him. She had become his only light in an otherwise colorless existence. Karen had heard the talk and had figured out that her daddy's mood was tied to his illness, and that was tied to some bad person from Above who had shot him. In her little mind she determined that somehow she would find that person and get him for hurting her daddy.

_**Continued in Part 5**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	5. Captured

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 5 : Captured**

William was making his monthly rounds, walking through the tunnels, checking the ancient water and sewer pipes for leaks. He stopped suddenly, there was something very wrong. He reached out with his senses. He felt his father's presence waver and go out. Dead! In a panic he took off running towards the brownstone. Then he felt his older brother, Peter, register _pain_ and he also went away. William was overcome with anguish and dread as he pushed himself beyond his normal limits, racing through the tunnels.

It seemed like these tunnels stretched on forever and he was beginning to feel overcome by despair as he continued to run. With a jolt he felt overwhelming _terror_ from his little brother, Joseph, then _pain_ and he too went away. William ricocheted around a corner and skidded to a halt as he was hit by a wall of _rage_ and _hatred_. Joseph lay in a heap on the floor next to the bodies of his sister and his mother and little Karen. Standing over them was the hunter, her eyes blazing with hate as she fired her gun at him. The pain in his heart was unbearable.

As he went down he heard her voice cry out. "Why did you abandon me?" He tried to call out that he hadn't abandoned her but he was paralyzed, unable to speak.

Suddenly he was sitting up in bed, shaking violently, his heart pounding and having difficulty catching his breath. After a while he got himself under control and checked Karen's little bed to be sure she was alright. He lay back down and tried to calm his mind so he could go back to sleep. He only ended up tossing and turning the rest of the night, images from his nightmare dancing through his mind's eye.

That morning after Karen was safely in with the rest of the youngest children he retreated to the waterfall lake. That nightmare had shaken him to his core. By protecting that hunter, was he putting his whole family in danger? He knew that for everyone's sake he should tell his mother about her but he just couldn't do it.

He wrestled with his dilemma well into the afternoon without ever finding a solution. Finally he decided that he would have to find a way to deal with the hunter himself. He set the problem, of how to deal with the hunter, aside for now and headed home. He felt the strong need to see and hold his adopted daughter first before he went out to deal with his problem.

~ x x x x x ~

Patricia strode through the park, in the rapidly waning Autumn daylight, towards her customary vantage point near the storm drain culvert. She noticed three rather rough looking teenagers off to the left watching her intently. She increased her speed slightly as she became a bit nervous. She put her hand in her pocket and got a grip around one of her darts. If this turned bad, could she get the gun out and loaded fast enough to do any good?

She was now aware that they were walking about twenty-five feet behind her. She altered direction towards what she hoped was a more crowded area of the park and again increased her pace. Her heart was pounding as she tried to act unconcerned. This late in the evening there would be precious little help unless she could reach an area that still had a lot of people or crossed the path of one of the mounted park patrols. The band shell was out because there was nothing going on that night. Where could she go? Where would there still be people about?

Her fear increased as she realized that they were getting closer. She increased her pace again. She heard laughter, cold and heartless, behind her. Then someone yelled, "Get her!" and she broke into a full out run.

~ o ~

William was standing at the newly enlarged alcove entrance gazing at Karen, asleep in her little bed. He gently reached out to caress her cheek when he felt a blast of _fear_ suddenly wash over him like a tidal wave. She's in trouble. He whipped around and raced out of his room. As he raced towards the surface the _fear_ increased and he pushed himself even harder. He opened himself up wide so that he could more easily locate her and was nearly overwhelmed by her _panic_.

As he burst from the storm drain culvert, he staggered as he felt a terrible _pain_ rip through his chest. An instant later he heard a sharp bang echoing through the park.

~ o ~

As Patricia ran through the park in an almost blind panic she fumbled with the gun trying to get it loose from her waistband. With a start she realized that she had entered a dead end just as she got the gun loose. As she reached the metal grid work under the bridge she whipped around, shoving the dart into the gun and bringing it up to fire. She fired at the tough in the middle as she was thrown back against the wall. An instant later she became aware of a terrible pain that had exploded in her chest. Her legs collapsed beneath her and she slid down the wall. Only then did she become aware of the echoes of the gunshot.

As she lay there watching the three attackers approach, it was becoming harder for her to breath. Soon one of them was pawing through her clothes while another picked up her dart gun.

The air was shattered by the sound of a fearsome roar of primal rage. The last thing she saw before the blackness overcame her was the monster she had been hunting for so long roaring as it flung the gang members aside like cardboard cutout figures, each marked by bloody gashes where the monster's claws contacted. She knew she is about to die and despaired. She had failed to avenge her sister and was about to join her at the claws of that same monster.

~ o ~

William came out of the blind rage as he looked down at the body of his hunter, completely ignoring the downed gang members. There was blood smeared down the wall behind her and a red stain was slowly spreading across her chest. There were trickles of blood coming out of the corners of her mouth. She coughed once splattering more blood onto her shirt.

Reaching down he scooped her up. Seeing the air gun against the side of the gully he snatched it up as well. Then he was off, pushing himself beyond his normal limits as he raced across the park and down into the tunnels.

While racing through the home tunnels he heard the message from the sentry announce his approach and telling of the injured girl he carried. Teresa was already in the infirmary when he burst in with his dying burden. She took one look at the bloody burden in his arms and directed him to carry her into the operating chamber. Afterwards Teresa shooed him out of the chamber as her two assistants, Sandy and Reba, arrived.

William paced the hall outside of the infirmary. He knew she was still alive because he could barely feel her presence. He also sensed a flash of _anger_ from Teresa shortly after she had shooed him out. He finally went back into the main infirmary chamber and tried to force himself to calm down. Whenever he tried to stop and relax, he just got so agitated that he had to jump up and start pacing again.

About four hours later Teresa came out. The first thing he noticed was the flashing fire of _outrage_ in her eyes and the seething _anger_ roiling just below the surface of her emotions. Then he noticed that she was holding one of the darts in her hand.

"She had these on her." Teresa ground out, her voice barely under control. Then her eyes grew wide as she noticed the gun he was still carrying. "You knew? And you brought her here?"

"I had to." He replied. "She was dying and this was the closest place I could get help for her." He was pleading for her understanding.

"She's dangerous. She nearly killed you." Teresa snapped at him with some heat.

"It doesn't matter. I had to save her." He snapped back with equal heat.

As Teresa glared back at him it began to sink in. There was more going on here the she had realized. William was really concerned about that girl. "William, I think we need to talk." She guided him over to an old couch in her tiny office alcove.

~ o ~

Harold was awakened by the sound of his phone announcing a call. By the tune it was playing he knew it was Carolyn. He glanced at the clock as he reached for the phone. [4:15 am] He flipped open the phone to see Carolyn's worried face on the tiny screen.

"Carolyn? What's wrong?" Her expression had been enough to bring him to full wakefulness.

"It's Patty." Carolyn replied. "She didn't come home last night. She always gets in before two when she goes to the park." The worry in her voice was palpable. They had both been worried about Patricia lately

"I'll be right over." He replied and closed his phone. He quickly got dressed and headed over to Carolyn's dorm room.

Since the night of their disastrous date, Patricia had been different, cold. It wasn't that she was mean or hateful or anything like that. It was just that the emotion was gone. Their relationship had become one of cordial acquaintances after that day. In the last few weeks Harold and Carolyn had become very close. Drawn together in part by their shared concern over Patty but also by a newly discovered mutual attraction.

Harold and Carolyn left a note to Patricia to call them if she got back to the dorm then they headed to the park to search for her. Carolyn had already tried her phone but had gotten an 'out of service area' message.

They headed over towards the band shell first since that was where Patty had been concentrating her search. They started by wandering the area calling her name. They tried her phone but only got the same result.

They had been slowly widening their search when Harold spotted Patricia's keys next to a large bloodstain in a shallow dead end cul-de-sac next to the road. Now they were scared. Harold got the attention of a mounted officer that was riding through the area and reported Patricia's disappearance, showing him where the keys and bloodstain were. The officer questioned them, took their names, sent them home and called it in.

Later one of the detectives searching the area for clues found a dart embedded in the ground about sixty feet from the crime scene. Another detective found blood drops near a storm drain culvert. They also found a recently fired gun under a bush next to the crime scene.

~ x x x x x ~

Around noon Elizabeth stormed into the infirmary. She saw William sitting in a chair by one of the infirmary's operating chambers. In his lap was a modified paintball gun. "What is going on here?" She inquired, her tone demanding an answer.

Teresa came out from the tapestry covered door way. "William brought his hunter down here." She replied. "She was cornered in the park by some gang bangers and shot."

"We've got to get her out of here before she wakes up." Elizabeth snapped out sharply. "I'll arrange to have her taken to the jail infirmary."

William jumped up from his seat. "You can't. I won't let you . . . I . . . I love her"

Elizabeth stared at him in stunned amazement. She took in the look of stubborn determination on her son's face trying to process his unexpected outburst. Then her eyes grew wide as she was hit by sudden insight. "You're linked to her, aren't you?" She tried to deny the possibility even as she realized that it explained much.

William mutely nodded his head.

"But she's dangerous. I have to do something." Elizabeth felt herself being torn by two conflicting mutually exclusive desires, both of which involved protecting her son.

Charles came out of the same chamber Teresa had just emerged from at that point and addressed Elizabeth. "You can't do it, Bethy. William would be forced to endure everything that happened to her. Think of what it would do to him." He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as he gazed at his son. "The best we can do is wait and see what happens when she wakes up." He gave her a little squeeze. "Maybe we can reason with her. Find out why she's doing it, why she is hunting him so relentlessly." He smiled at her and shrugged. "Besides, Doctor Teresa told me that she can't be moved for at least twenty-four hours."

Elizabeth glanced back and forth between William and Charles. Finally she spoke. "But why did you bring her here . . . among us?" She stared into Williams eyes. "Why didn't you take her to our access at Saint Vincent's? Now she will find out about the tunnels."

"It's a good thing he did bring her here." Teresa spoke up. "She was very badly wounded and wouldn't have lasted long enough to reach the hospital. As it was I just barely got to her in time. The bullet tore up her lung and nicked a major vein. The only reason she survived is because it missed the aorta . . . by a half inch."

Elizabeth shrugged in exasperation. "If that's the way things stand . . ." She glared at William. "You are responsible for her. You're going to have to make sure she doesn't endanger the rest of the people that live Below." Then her attitude softened and she reached out to touch her son in sympathy. She hadn't lived with a Chandler-Wells male for almost thirty years without understanding the ramifications of their special gift. And she had seen him go through two very difficult relationships over the last few years. "I hope it turns out OK for you."

Charles linked arms with Elizabeth and together they walked out of the infirmary. This was William's problem and only he could deal with it. She just hoped that it didn't destroy him. She certainly felt for the pain he had been going through and she didn't envy what the future might have in store for him. Her only solace was the hope that, maybe this time, the bond would help bring the situation to a better conclusion than the last two affairs.

~ o ~

A dull aching pain in her chest seeped into Patricia's fogged mind. Then she was aware of the odor of damp earth, disinfectant and burning candle wax. In her mind she kept replaying that scene of the raging beast roaring and ripping his way through those three gang bangers. She had been shot. The realization rocked her to the core. Why was she still alive? The last thing she remembered was that monster looking right at her, a golden fire of rage burning in his eyes.

Slowly Patricia opened her eyes to find herself looking into the three year old face of her missing sister. The child called out, "Daddy, girl wake." Then the child turned and jumped down.

Turning her head painfully Patricia tried to call out to the strange specter of her sister as a child but her words caught in her throat. The child pushed aside a faded old tapestry and exited through the opening behind it. Glancing around, Patricia realized that she was in some kind of rock walled cave. She looked back at the tapestry as she heard the murmur of voices coming from it.

A few seconds later the tapestry was pushed aside and a woman entered. "Ah, awake I see." She moved aside a chair that the child must have been standing on then reached out when Patricia tried to move. "Don't try to move. You've been shot. There was a lot of damage and you need to rest and let yourself heal."

The woman was dressed in several layers of worn patchwork clothes. Patricia might have taken her for a homeless person except that she was too clean and healthy. Also she carried herself with the confident air of a professional that knew what she was doing. As the woman checked her over Patricia glanced around the room she was in. With the exception of the rock walls and the old tapestry, where the doorway obviously was located, it looked very much like a small but well equipped emergency room. Several times Patricia wanted to say something, ask questions, but each time she refrained from speaking, the woman's cool reserve making her unsure what her status was in this strange place.

"Everything looks good." The woman proclaimed. "You should make a full recovery but it will take a little time. You were shot in the chest. The bullet broke a rib and did significant damage but nothing irreparable. You lost a lot of blood but we got to you in time." The woman checked the bandages across her chest. "Good there's no bleeding. The bullet was deflected by the third rib, tumbled through the left lung, barely nicked the left Pulmonary vein and lodged against the seventh rib near the spine. There may be some minor paralysis due to the shock to the spinal cord but it should be temporary. A fragment of the seventh rib broke off and exited through your back. That hole was actually quite a bit larger than the entry wound." She adjusted Patricia's pillow and replaced the soft blanket over her. "The bullet just missed the heart and the aorta. That and the speed with which William got you to us is the only reason you're still alive." The woman gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "In a couple of weeks you should be back on your feet. Now rest and I'll check in on you later." The woman gave the blanket one final tug. "My name is Teresa. I'm your doctor for the time being." Then she left the room.

Patricia noticed that though the woman had been very professional in her treatment there had been a definite undercurrent of coldness, even disapproval, running through her attitude.

Patricia tried to rise but the pain in her chest and back forced her back down before she had moved more than an inch. As she lay there she heard the woman/doctor talking to someone but she couldn't make out the words. She suspected that her condition was being reported to that other person. Slowly she began to realize that there was something else different but she couldn't put her finger on it immediately. She felt . . . _brighter _. . . _warmer_ . . . Then it hit her. The emptiness! It was gone! The warm presence was back! Suddenly she felt joy bubbling up inside her. It was back! Then she felt a change, a shift. The feeling, the presence, was responding to her joy. Then she heard the most incredible masculine voice from beyond the tapestry. It seemed to touch something deep in her core. The warm presence seemed to ebb and flow with the sound of the voice. With a shock she understood. The voice she was hearing and that feeling inside her were somehow connected.

The voices moved away and she was left to contemplate her situation. She wasn't in a hospital but she was in some kind of emergency room and, remarkably, she was alive. Where was she? Was she a prisoner? She found that for now she couldn't really feel concern. All she wanted to do was revel in the return of that special warmth, that presence, within her.

About an hour and a half later another woman entered. She was well dressed and very businesslike. Like the doctor, there was also just a hint of cold displeasure in her attitude that was more apparent than the previous woman. "I need to know exactly what happened to you." The woman stated without preamble. "Why were you in the park and who shot you."

For a moment Patricia looked at the woman, too stunned by her abrupt attitude and her question. There was something vaguely familiar about this woman. Who was she? How much should she say to her? She blinked twice and swallowed convulsively as she realized that the woman was waiting, a bit impatiently, for her to answer. She tried to think out a coherent response to explain herself without sounding crazy. Finally she stammered out, "I . . . ah . . . I was . . . ah . . . I was after the monster that . . . that got my sister . . ."

The miniature Karen from earlier barged into the room, all bluster and belligerence, looking so much like the way Patricia remembered her little sister at that age, it brought tears to her eyes. The child stood there fists on her hips, just like Karen used to do, and challenged her. "Daddy **not** monster." The child glared at her.

The woman doctor had come in just behind the little girl and chided her. "Karen, hush. That's no way to talk to a guest."

The little girl looked at the doctor. "Girl call Daddy monster."

The elegantly dressed woman gently turned the child around and gave her a gentle shove towards the tapestry. Then that incredible voice spoke again. "Honey, leave the woman alone and come out of there."

"O tay, Daddy." The girl replied meekly and left the room followed by the doctor.

Karen? Karen! They had called her Karen and she was the image of Karen as a young child. What was going on here? Why did that child look so much like her sister? Then she heard a child's delighted laughter from beyond the tapestry.

Her attention was dragged back by the insistent clearing of the other woman's throat.

"Now please explain what you mean by the monster that '**got**' your sister." The woman inquired.

Knowing she probably sounded as foolish as she felt, Patricia haltingly spun out the story of her sister, and what she had seen that night. As she told her story the woman's attitude softened more and more. By the time she got to the part about the attack she had witnessed in the park, there was real sympathy in the woman's eyes and voice, without even a hint of disbelief present. The story was having the opposite effect on the woman than Patricia had expected. When the woman asked for a description of her sister, Patricia directed her to the slightly worn picture, taken just a year before her disappearance, which she carried in her jacket pocket.

The woman's eyes widened, significantly, when she looked at the picture and she asked. "Would you mind if I borrow this for a little while? I'll get it back to you as soon as I can."

Patricia shrugged. "I guess so. If you need it."

"Thank-you. I'll take good care of it." She placed the picture in her pocket. "You rest and heal. We'll talk again later."

The woman left the room and the doctor came back in. Patricia noticed a significant thaw in the attitude of the doctor as she checked her over and adjusted the IV. Partially emboldened by the doctor's improved demeanor she asked. "How long have I been here?"

Doctor Teresa paused. "It's been about fifteen hours since William brought you to us." Then, with a final admonishment to get some sleep, the unusually dressed doctor left the room. She also heard the professional looking woman and the male with that wonderful voice talking, too low to understand, in the next room as she began to doze off.

_**Continued in Part 6**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	6. Revelations

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 6 : Revelations**

After her conversation, Elizabeth was deep in thought as she exited the smaller operating chamber that contained the injured hunter and joined William in the main infirmary chamber. She looked up at her son who was looking expectantly back at her. "You heard?" She asked him. He nodded. She held out the picture while glancing at little Karen. "This is the sister."

William looked at it curiously and his eyebrows rode up his forehead. "That's her." He remarked in a soft voice. "That's the woman I found in that building." He glanced down at little Karen, standing quietly beside him and gazing up at the two adults. "That's Karen's mother." He finished with a nod.

~ o ~

Patricia awoke to the sound of a young child crying. The tapestry had been tied back and she could see into the next chamber. On a typical examination table sat a young boy of about five or six and the doctor was treating his skinned knee. A second woman was in there holding the unhappy little boy's hand and trying to comfort him. The second woman shifted around slightly and for a moment, Patricia was sure that the woman was her missing sister.

Then, as the woman shifted again and Patricia got a better look at her face, she quickly realized that that woman was much older than her little sister would be. The unknown woman looked more like Karen might look as a middle-aged woman and the resemblance was imperfect at best. Patricia shook her head in confusion. This was crazy. Just how many versions of Karen were there in this insane place?

Once the boy's skinned knee had been treated and bandaged, the doctor spoke up. "There we are Danny; I think you will be just fine now. Linda, why don't you take Danny to the dining chamber and see if Oscar will fix him up with a little treat."

The woman named Linda lifted the boy down from the examination table. "That sounds like a good idea. By the time we're finished there, Danny's mother will be home and I can drop him off at his home." Then taking the boy's hand they left the chamber.

The Doctor then came into Patricia's little chamber and asked her how she was feeling today.

~ x x x x x ~

A day and a half later, Patricia was getting bored and very restless. 'Two whole days' of being stuck lying in the bed was getting old, though they had supplied her with several good books to read. She had been able to learn a few things in that time.

She found that by listening in on tantalizing snatches of conversation, particularly when the tapestry was pulled down, she had learned quite a few interesting things. She now knew that she was in some kind of underground labyrinth beneath New York City (more specifically, beneath Central Park). There was apparently a rather sizable community down here. The people living down here banged on pipes to send messages. The business like woman that had interviewed her had looked familiar because she was the well known District Attorney Elizabeth Maxwell. Doctor Teresa tended to mutter to herself when she was occupied with a patient which allowed Patricia to glean a lot of information about her own condition. She learned that she had been in a lot worse shape than she had realized.

The owner of the incredible voice, which was somehow tied to the wonderful presence she felt within her, had been by the infirmary at least five times that she was aware of but he never stood in a location where she could see him. Twice she had heard that incredibly sexy voice of his asking specifically about her condition. She desperately wanted to see the face that went with that voice. Whenever she brought up the subject of that unique voice with Doctor Teresa, she just danced around the subject noncommittally. Elizabeth had visited Patricia twice and reacted the same way when asked about it. Elizabeth, however, was much more skilled at avoiding the subject. She was able to figure out that the incredible voice had a name. "William." Moreover, it belonged to the person the little girl, Karen, had called Daddy. It was also, apparently, the name of the person that had brought her down here to save her life.

A couple of times she found herself wondering what had happened to that monster. That was another subject that Elizabeth and Doctor Teresa avoided talking about. She could only assume that something must have scared it off. Yet the monster had not been afraid of those three gang bangers that had shot her. She found herself wondering if it could have been William that had scared the monster off.

Once, in what was supposed to be the late evening while the tapestry over her doorway was down for the night, she heard the voice of the little girl asking, "Daddy why girl want hurt you?"

The 'Voice' responded, "I think she blames me for something that happened long ago."

God how she wished she could see who that voice belonged to. And why in the world would they think she would want to hurt him? It made no sense.

About an hour ago, just after she had woke up, she also caught a bit of conversation coming from the outer hallway about some kind of three-year-old restriction. ". . . been going on three years now." Complained the first voice.

"What did you expect?" Responded the second voice. "Jacob chased Linda right into the middle of a bunch of college kids. It was bound to cause quite a furor and don't forget what happened last year."

The first voice continued. "Well it's still a pain-in-the-butt, not being able to use the park, even at . . ."

Patricia was unable to make out the rest as they moved out of earshot.

Patricia lay there was startled by the implications in what she had just heard. "Jacob chased Linda?" She muttered to herself. Were they talking about what she had seen that night in the park? That woman she had seen holding the kid with the skinned knee was called Linda and she looked a lot like her sister. What was going on here? Could she have really been so mistaken about what she saw that night? But there was one thing she was absolutely sure of. The monster was real. She had seen it clearly on three separate occasions. But if it was that woman, Linda, that she had seen that night, how had she escaped from it? Or had she? Were they all prisoners of that monster in this strange subterranean world? None of the people she had seen so far seemed to be distressed or unhappy. And what did District Attorney Elizabeth Maxwell have to do with anything? Or was it something even more sinister? What really had happened that night three years ago? And what had really happened that night she had been shot? Those questions and speculations kept circulating in her head.

Then the similarity between Linda's appearance and Patricia's little sister reminded of that little three year old girl named Karen. Did that mean that Linda was little Karen's mother? Patricia found herself very disturbed by that possibility. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of Linda having that kind of relationship with the owner of that incredible voice named William.

It was about time she found out what was really going on. Slowly, carefully, she slipped out of the bed. A wave of weakness nearly overwhelmed her as she clung to the side of the bed. After a few minutes, she was able to get control of her feet and gingerly made her way to the tapestry. There was a strange leaden weakness to her legs and she was having trouble controlling them. Could this be the paralysis that the doctor had been talking about?

Pushing the tapestry aside, she eased through the opening and found herself in a larger chamber. This chamber had two examination tables and all the things she would expect to find in the school infirmary to deal with your typical scrapes bumps and bruises. Apparently, the chamber she had been in was for more serious conditions. There were three other small chambers similar to hers opening off this larger chamber. A fifth opening looked almost like an office and to her right, by itself, was an opening that seemed to lead into a long tunnel. Glancing around again she noticed an old beat-up chair against the wall beside her little room with an open book, face down, in the seat. Had someone been standing guard over her?

She also spotted her gun sitting on the old desk in what appeared to be the office chamber. Using whatever surface came in handy she made her way over to the desk and her gun. In a tray next to it were two of her tranquilizer darts. She picked up the gun and checked it. The compressed air canister was still charged and the mechanism was working. She loaded a dart into the gun.

"What are you doing?" An unknown voice demanded from behind her.

Patricia whirled around bringing the gun up ready to fire. The effect was less than perfect because her unstable legs gave way beneath her and she ended up sitting on the floor facing the wide-eyed pre-teen boy standing in the outer doorway.

~ o ~

It had been a little over three days since Harold and Carolyn had reported Patricia missing. They were in Carolyn and Patricia's dorm room discussing the situation. There had been a lot of police activity that first day. When District Attorney Elizabeth Maxwell had showed up in person around lunch time to talk to them they were at first pleased that the situation was being taken so seriously. That began to change, as Elizabeth Maxwell's questions seemed to be more oriented to finding out what Patricia had been doing in the park at night. It was as though she was trying to implicate Patricia in some kind of wrongdoing while she had been in the park. After a while, Harold and Carolyn started getting more evasive and uninformative in their answers, as Elizabeth got more aggressive in her questions.

By the time Elizabeth had left them, Harold and Carolyn were both very uneasy and a little bit worried. Later Harold had talked to other friends and found that they had also been questioned in this manner. Since then, several calls to the police had gotten no results. Patricia was nowhere to be found.

Carolyn answered a knock at the door to find Elizabeth Maxwell had come to question them again.

"Unless you have a warrant, we don't have to talk to you or even let you in." Carolyn snapped.

I'm not here about Patricia, at least not directly." Elizabeth responded. "I wanted to ask you about her sister, Karen." Elizabeth's attitude was much less belligerent this time around. Carolyn wavered about closing the door.

"Let her in Carolyn." Harold called resignedly.

"Thank-you for seeing me." Elizabeth greeted them as she entered the room.

"Is there **any** news about Patricia?" Harold asked plaintively. He did not really expect a helpful answer but he had to ask anyway. The look on his face was full of tired resignation.

Elizabeth looked at both of them and saw the very real concern on their faces. "I do have some news." She replied. "I have just gotten word that Patricia is alive and safe. She was seriously injured but she will recover."

"Did the monster get her?" Carolyn asked impulsively.

"Monster?" Elizabeth inquired raising her eyebrows.

"The one we saw three years ago." Harold responded, half-expecting ridicule from her in response.

Elizabeth looked at him for a moment then replied. "No, it wasn't the . . . creature." She paused. "Patricia was cornered in that cul-de-sac by a trio of gang bangers. They shot her."

"Shot?" Harold and Carolyn both responded appalled. This was the first that they had heard about that.

"Yes, but someone found her and got her to medical help in time to save her life." Elizabeth gave them a second to absorb this new information then continued. "The reason I'm here is because we were finally able to identify the body found in that building that burned down the same night as your little park adventure. It was Patricia's sister, Karen." She paused again. "Now I'm trying to find out how she came to be in that building in the first place."

"Wait. Wait." Harold shook his head. "How can you be sure that body was Karen?" Harold was staring at her skeptically. "The news said that the body was totally incinerated and there wasn't enough left for identification."

"We **are** positive about our identification. We have an eye witness that saw her body in the building just before the fire." Elizabeth cocked her head. "We also found an alternate source of DNA and got a positive genetic match."

Harold scratched his head for a moment. "If I remember correctly, that building went up at almost the same time we saw the monster in the park." He looked over at Carolyn, frowning. "If that's true then it couldn't possibly have been Karen we saw that monster chasing." His eyes strayed over to Patricia's bed and his frown deepened.

"Then who was it?" Asked Carolyn, looking first at Harold then at Elizabeth.

"That is not important right now." Elizabeth interjected, shaking her head. "What I want to know right now is, how did Karen end up in that building?"

Over the next hour, Carolyn and Harold told Elizabeth everything they knew about Karen and her disappearance. Then Elizabeth's phone signaled for attention and she answered it.

"Elizabeth here." . . .

"Yes?" . . .

"What!" . . .

"Damn!" . . .

"I'll be right there." . . .

"Damn!" She closed her phone. "Gotta Go." Without another word she bolted out of there like her tail was on fire.

Harold and Carolyn stared at the open door then looked at each other in surprise. "What was that about?" Carolyn asked. Harold simply shrugged his shoulders.

~ o ~

Patricia was sitting on the floor and faced with a male, about eleven or twelve years old, that was standing in the hall doorway, staring down the barrel of her gun, his eyes as big as saucers. She wavered for several seconds uncertain what to do as the young man swallowed convulsively.

"Where is the little girl named Karen?" She demanded, not quite sure why.

The young man pointed to his left down the hallway. Patricia was having a little difficulty breathing and felt a wave of dizziness sweep over her for a moment causing her hand and the gun in it to waver. The young man took advantage of her obvious distraction and bolted down the tunnel in the opposite direction from the one he had pointed.

With a fair amount of difficulty, Patricia worked her way back up to her feet. Then she carefully made her way across the chamber and into the tunnel outside the infirmary. Trying to get around on legs that just barely responded to her will was very difficult and draining but she was determined. She looked up and down the hallway like tunnel but the young man was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, using the wall for support, she made her way down the tunnel in the direction that the young man had pointed. She had gone about fifty feet when she heard 'the voice' coming from an opening to her left. It sounded like he was reading '**The Hobbit**' aloud to someone.

The voice stopped reading at about the same time the tapping on the pipes took on a franticly urgent sound. Well they probably all knew that she was on the loose now. She almost fell as she crossed the tunnel to the other side where the opening was located. As she steadied herself against the tunnel wall, she heard the voice announcing that class was dismissed. There were several disappointed awe's from beyond the opening that sounded like it came from several children. The voice said that they would continue tomorrow morning. She eased herself through the opening.

Patricia now found herself on some type of upper balcony next to a metal spiral staircase. The balcony ran over halfway around the chamber that appeared about twice as big across as the infirmary she had just left. The place appeared to be some type of library with every shelf and free surface covered with hundreds of books. Looking down at the lower level, she saw over a dozen children, ranging in age from three to five years old, disbursing through the two entrances that she could see from her vantage point. The miniature Karen was arguing with someone that was apparently just out of sight under the stairway. That was the source of 'the voice'. Little Karen, apparently, did not want to leave and she had resorted to the standard 'Why?' phase that all children used.

The child looked up just as Patricia carefully leaned out over the handrail to finally get a look at the source of that warm presence within her as well as that incredible voice.

What she saw was the monster standing there, staring back up at her. In her shock, she jerked back, lost her already precarious grip on the handrail and began to fall. Dropping the gun, she reached out to grab at the handrail that turned out to be just beyond her grasp. She felt her feet loose contact with the top tread of the stairs as she began to topple over, her arms windmilling uselessly. She had an instant of total panic thinking she was about to break her neck, when she suddenly found herself supported in a pair of very strong arms.

The warm feeling inside her grew to engulf her being, just as the arms that now surrounded her seemed to engulf her body. She shifted around only to find herself face to face with the monster. She could feel his warm breath on her face as she stared into his incredible golden eyes. In those eyes, she was surprised to clearly see concern and kindness. Then she realized that it matched the _concern_ and _kindness_ she was feeling from that presence surrounding her heart.

She felt a sharp pain in her chest and the look in the monster's eyes became very worried. The monster picked her up. "Karen, come with me." He ordered in that incredible voice.

This creature was the source of 'the voice' and the warmth she felt engulfing her heart?

Her attention was brought back to the pain in her chest as the creature carried her back up the stairs and through the opening into the tunnel. Looking at her chest, she saw a red stain very slowly spreading on the spot where the pain was located. The creature quickly carried her back to her little emergency room chamber and gently laid her in her bed.

"Don't move. I'll get the doctor." He ordered in that incredible voice. Then he turned to leave

The miniature Karen came in and glared at Patricia. "You stay!" She demanded then followed the creature out.

Patricia lay there stunned as her head spun with conflicting thoughts and emotions. She was surprised at the compassionate warmth the creature had shown to her just now. She couldn't help but realized that the creature was the source of both the voice and the presence that she had desired so much. That the creature was the one named William and the little girl, Karen, had called him Daddy. She looked around the little chamber he had brought her back to. That creature, William had just saved her from a very nasty fall. She remembered hearing Teresa say that it had been William that brought her down here after she had been shot. He had saved her life, possibly twice. Her whole world was being turned upside down. And somewhere in the back of her mind crouched, presently un-noticed, the nagging question of why little three-year-old Karen was the image of Patricia's missing little sister.

After about two minutes, Doctor Teresa came in. She removed the bloody bandages and examined the wound, tisking as she did. "You've torn your stitches." She shook her head. "You need to stay in bed while these heal." She proceeded to clean the wound and repair the damage, this time she was using local anesthetic. "You mustn't go wandering through these tunnels until you are well enough to get up out of bed." She muttered unintelligibly to herself for a bit then mumbled. "Hummm, not quite as bad as I feared." She set aside her instruments and started bandaging her wound, still muttering. "Yes, much better than expected."

Teresa looked Patricia in the eye. "Any problem with shortness of breath?" Patricia nodded in response. Teresa nodded back. "That's to be expected. There was a lot of damage to your left lung but it should improve with time."

After about an hour Doctor Teresa was finished and cleaning up when Patricia became aware of the sound of arguing in the next room. She recognized the voices as William and (_District Attorney Elizabeth?_) Elizabeth's voice was angry. "She's dangerous. Someone could get hurt." Her voice got almost strident. "If she had shot you again with that damn gun it could have killed you."

William's soothing voice responded. "Mother, relax. Nobody was hurt. She is in such bad shape I don't think she could hold that gun steady enough to aim it. She almost fell down those stairs. The only one she's a danger to, right now, is herself."

"I just don't like the way she keeps going after you." Replied Elizabeth's voice. "I'm worried about you."

"I'll be fine, Mother. She is **my** problem. Let me handle it." He responded.

"Daddy up." She heard the child demand. She noticed Teresa watching her as they both listened to the conversation coming from the other side of the tapestry.

"Ok honey." Replied William's voice. Then, after a moment, William continued speaking. "Did you find out any more about Patricia's sister?"

It took nearly two seconds before Elizabeth responded. "You were right. That dead woman you found in that building **was** her sister. The DNA tests confirmed it." There was another pause then Elizabeth continued more kindly. "Do you want me to tell her?"

"No." William responded. "I think I should tell her. She needs to know the truth." There was another pause. "Besides right now her _confusion_ and _curiosity_ are running rampant."

Patricia heard a very audible gasp. "She's in there?" Elizabeth asked in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't give me a chance." William replied.

Little Karen jumped in at this point. "She was bleeding. Daddy brought her back."

After a few seconds the tapestry was pulled aside and the creature she now knew as William stood there holding little Karen in one arm. Behind him stood Elizabeth looking a bit sheepish. They both entered the little chamber. For a second they all stared at each other unable to think of what to say.

Finally, William spoke to the little girl. "Karen, this is your Aunt Patricia." He then faced Patricia. "Patricia, this is your sister's daughter, Karen. I named her Karen because that name was written on a scrap piece of paper I found on the floor next to her. I didn't know until a few days ago that your sister's name was Karen." The little girl looked solemnly at Patricia as William handed her to Elizabeth. "You go with grandmother, Pumpkin. Aunt Patricia and I need to talk." He gave the little girl the gentlest kiss on her forehead then placed her into Elizabeth's arms.

"O'tay, Daddy." Karen responded as Elizabeth and Doctor Teresa both left the chamber.

William . . . When had she quit thinking of him as 'The Monster'? . . . William pulled the chair over beside her bed and sat down in it. For a minute, they both just stared at each other as her mind tried to cope with everything that had happened in the last two hours and what she had just heard in the other room.

Finally William spoke. "After Mother showed me that picture of your sister, I identified her and they did a series of DNA tests to verify it. Little Karen is your niece." The sympathy in his eyes touched her to her soul. It also made her dread what he was going to say next.

William proceeded to tell her about the night he had found her little sister and little Karen. When he tried to gloss over the condition of her sister's body, she saw it in his eyes that he was holding back something and called him on it. Reluctantly he told her everything that he had seen that night. She accepted it with sad resignation. It explained so much about those last months before Karen disappeared and yet it still left many unanswered questions. When he had finished, she cried and he put his arms around her to try to comfort her. To her surprise, having his arms around her did give her some comfort. She could feel his presence in her mind sharing her emotions. Then she was clinging to him as she released three years worth of pent up grief.

_**Continued in Part 7**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	7. Relationships

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 7 : Relationships**

Finally, the storm was over. There had been a lot of sorrow to be released. Patricia looked up to see tears in William's compassionate golden eyes. He really had been sharing her sorrow. Then she looked down. How had she ended up sitting in his lap? Again, she was surprised at how normal it felt. "I'm really very sorry about your sister." He remarked.

For a moment, she just gazed at his leonine face that no longer appeared so frightening. "But what about the park?"

He chuckled and she saw his fangs for the first time. "That was my Uncle Jacob and Aunt Linda getting playful." Despite those fangs, she liked his smile. There was real warmth in his eyes when he smiled. "Sometimes she will tease him into chasing her. What happens after he catches her is more or less private."

She actually caught a hint of red in the skin under his fur. He was blushing. Suddenly she found herself blushing as well. She looked down at his hands. One was closed around her arm, the other rested in her lap. She found herself fascinated by the way they ended in very deadly looking claws and felt a shiver run up her spine. She felt his arms gently tighten around her. "There is no reason to fear me." He said tenderly. "I could never harm you." There was warmth and uncertainty in his eyes as he hesitated. "I'm in love with you."

It took a second for what he said to sink in. "What?" She exclaimed in shocked surprise as she took in his un-human leonine features. A hint of _unease_ and _fear_ crept into her mind as she sought to reject what she had heard.

His face fell as a cloud of sorrow seemed to engulf him. He stood up and gently set her back into her bed. "I'll let you rest." He turned his back to her and left the chamber.

As she stared at the tapestry over the door, she realized that the presence in her heart had taken on a definite texture of sadness. Her reaction had hurt him. He had professed his love for her and had felt her rejection. By now, she had come to understand that he could feel her emotions. She put her head in her hands and began to cry. How could two beings that were so different ever have a relationship.

~ o ~

Another two days had passed since Harold and Carolyn had last talked to Elizabeth Maxwell. Their relief at the news that Patricia was alive and safe was overwhelming. Sharing their happiness had eventually led to a more intimate sharing. The next day they heard the news about the body from the fire three years ago finally being identified as Patricia's sister. They had both known her and felt the loss. They consoled each other and grew closer.

Harold was thinking about how sad it was about Karen when he realized that they still did not know where Patricia was. He called Elizabeth and asked her but she only evaded the question and continued to assure him that she was alive and safe. After hanging up Harold discussed it with Carolyn. They decided to go see Elizabeth tomorrow and talk to her in person.

~ o ~

Patricia awoke again from a troubled sleep. She kept seeing the hurt look on Williams face. For two days she had been wrestling with her feelings and her thoughts. She didn't know what to do. How could she have a relationship with a creature like William? And what about her niece, what should she do about that? The affection between them was so obvious. But how could she let little Karen be raised in this subterranean world by that creature, even if he was apparently doing a good job of raising her? By the same token, how could she separate them? That might be even worse than leaving her down here.

An unfamiliar very masculine voice came from the other side of the tapestry. "Patricia, may we come in?" Something about his voice reminded her of William.

"Sure, come in." She replied.

The tapestry shifted aside and, for a moment, her heart leaped until she realized that it wasn't William. This one's hair/mane was a lighter shade and his face was not quite the same. Also he looked much older and his eyes were a startlingly deep blue. She had intellectually accepted that there must be more than one like William but it was still a shock to actually see him. Elizabeth entered right behind him. "Hello, Patricia." She turned to the new creature. "This is my husband, Charles."

"Husband?" She asked incredulous.

"Of course." Elizabeth smiled. "How do you think William got here?" There was a tinge of pink in her complexion and Charles placed his arm around her.

"But . . . but . . . how . . . uh . . . I mean . . . uh . . . how . . ." She ended lamely.

"Why the usual way dear." Her smile widened as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "We've had four children together."

"But the differences . . ."

"Are not as great as you think." Elizabeth replied. "Everything that makes him unique." She placed her hand on his chest. "It's all located in the genes of the Y chromosome. The rest of his genetic code is totally human. We are not really sure how Vincent was created, he was the first, but reproductively . . ." A shy smile spread across her face along with a slightly deeper pink. ". . . There are certainly no problems there."

Patricia stared at them stunned.

Elizabeth came forward and placed her hand over Patricia's as Charles leaned casually against the edge of the doorway. "You're wondering how it can work. You have dozens of questions . . . the appearance, the size and strength . . ." Elizabeth stared at her knowingly for a second. Her eyebrows went up. "The claws . . ."

Patricia stared back surprised at how accurately she had hit the nail on the head. She glanced over at Charles. He was standing there unconcerned, studying his own claws, and then he looked up at her. "They are pretty sharp, aren't they?" He smiled at Elizabeth then back at Patricia as he raised one hand with the claws prominently displayed. "It's easy to understand why you might worry about these."

Elizabeth continued. "One huge advantage to being married to an empath is he always knows what you feel. He knows what makes you feel good and he knows instantly what causes you pain." She reached out with her free hand and took his outstretched clawed hand drawing him close. "When a man like that is in love with you, he could **never** do anything that would hurt you."

The affection between them was obvious. "It's a lot to think about." She responded.

"I know dear." Elizabeth replied giving her hand a squeeze and releasing it. "We'll go and let you rest."

Arms around each other's waist they left the chamber as Patricia mulled over what they had said. She thought about the first time she had seen one of them in the park that night. She played that scene over and over in her mind. Now it took on a whole new significance when viewed as a lover's romp rather than as she had first interpreted it.

She realized now that it had been little Karen she had seen by the band shell that night. William had to have known that she was there that night and had used subterfuge to distract rather than risk hurting her in a direct confrontation.

She thought about that night in the park when she had shot at him. He must have been there for a while watching her before she became aware of him. He could have attacked her when her gun jammed and he would have been justified. Instead, he ran away. Now that she thought about it, she had felt oddly uneasy and disoriented for days after that incident.

She thought about the incident with Harold, the pain that she had felt go through her soul, the sudden absence of the warmth she had not even been aware of before that. He had been in love with her back then and had felt her making love with someone else. Tears sprang to her eyes as she contemplated what it must have been like for him.

As she thought back she realized that his presence had been there from as far back as the night she had seen little Karen by the Band shell. She considered the fact that the presence had not come back until the day she was shot. She had hurt him terribly yet when she found herself in danger, he had been there for her. He had showed up so quickly, he must have become aware of her danger as soon as she had.

She thought about the look on his face when she had reacted badly to his profession of love. She thought of all she had put him through since she had first seen him and she cried. Then there was a shift in the presence. He was trying to comfort her. Even now after she had hurt him so badly he still wanted to comfort her. She owed him her life twice over. She owed him the life of her niece. She owed him for all the pain she had caused him. She resolved, whether she ever loved him or not, she would never hurt him like that again.

~ o ~

Elizabeth looked up from her desk at the knock on her doorframe. Harold and Carolyn entered.

"What can I do for you?" Elizabeth asked.

Harold looked down. "Well it's ah . . ." He looked over at Carolyn then back at Elizabeth. "It's about Patricia." He paused a moment. "You never told us where she was." He looked over at Carolyn then back. "She is a very good friend of ours and we really want to see her."

Elizabeth gazed at them both for a moment. "I can't really tell you where she is right now. I can only assure you that she is alive, safe and she is healing. I'm sorry."

Carolyn spoke up. "Is she in some kind of trouble?" She gripped Harold's hand. "Please we really care about her. She has been my dorm sister for over three years." She looked over at Harold. "And Harold has been even closer to her. They have been very close friends since high school."

Elizabeth gazed at both of them, judging their words and actions, guessing at what they were not saying. She also suspected that Carolyn had now supplanted Patricia in Harold's affections but that had not diminished either of their feelings for her. "I can't do anything today but if you come back tomorrow I may be able to help. I can't promise anything but I will try." She was seriously thinking of taking them to see Patricia but she wanted to talk it over with Jacob and Charles first.

Harold and Carolyn left Elizabeth's office only partially mollified. It was not what they had hoped for but they both knew that it was the best they would get today. And she had left them with the hope that they might be able to see Patricia tomorrow.

That evening Harold stayed with Carolyn and they talked about their hopes and worries for tomorrow. Though sex had yet to enter into their relationship the emotional connection between them was already far deeper than it had ever been between him and Patricia. They watched a video together and ended up falling asleep in each other's arms.

~ x x x x x ~

It had been several days now and there had been no sign of William. Finally, Patricia asked Teresa about it.

"I suspect that he hasn't been by because he doesn't think you want to see him." She replied her left eyebrow rode up. "Is he wrong?"

"Please, could you tell him I would like to see him?" She pleaded.

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" Teresa responded. "He's in the library chamber." There was a twinkle in her eyes as she pointed to the outer doorway. "Down the hall, first doorway to your left. You've been there once before." She noted something down on the chart she was holding. "Just be careful on those old spiral stairs." She closed the cover on the chart and left the tiny chamber.

Patricia carefully got to her feet. This was the first time since that little adventure four days ago that she had gotten to her feet without someone there to aid her. She was a lot more stable than that last time. She passed through the main infirmary chamber, noticing Dr. Teresa sitting at her desk in the little office chamber. Once in the tunnel she could clearly hear Williams voice. He was reading the part about the battle of five armies. She had always loved '**The Hobbit**' since she was a little girl. She and Karen would listen to their father for hours as he read it to them. As they got older, they had both become major fans of the entire video set.

She entered the library and looked down at the gathering of children. She was surprised to notice that three of the children exhibited the same leonine features as William except for their fur colors. One had golden blond fur, one had brownish red fur and one had bright red fur bordering on strawberry blond. There were definitely more of them than she had realized.

Wary of her still slightly shaky condition, she carefully made her way down the spiral stairs. All of the children watched her as she made her way into their midst. Gingerly she lowered herself to the floor next to little Karen.

As William continued to read, Patricia took and held Karen's tiny hand. A mist began to form in her eyes as she relived those days long ago when she and her sister had done this very thing together. After a few minutes little Karen climbed into her lap as the story continued to unwind. For the first time in years, she felt totally at ease with herself.

Finally, Bilbo made his way home and the story ended. The children were dismissed and they began to wander out. Patricia continued to hold Karen in her lap as William came over and sat down on the floor facing them. "Hello, Patricia. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

She swallowed once. "I . . . ah . . . I reacted badly last time we talked. I'm sorry for hurting you. Can we . . ." She took a deep breath. "Can we start over . . . I would like to get to know you better . . . please."

William looked at Karen. "What do you think Karen, should we give her a chance?" He was now smiling at Patricia.

Little Karen gazed solemnly at Patricia for a moment then nodded. "Uh, huh."

"Then its set." He announced. "Would you like to have lunch with us?" He asked.

Patricia nodded. "Uh, huh." She replied, sounding just like Karen.

"Then let us go." He stood up, reached down to pick up Karen then reached a hand down to help Patricia to her feet.

William continued to hold her hand as he led her out one of the lower exits and down a few twisting tunnels until they entered the largest chamber she had yet seen. Most of the space was taken up by a couple of dozen long tables. It looked just like the cafeteria from her old high school. There were about fifty odd people, along with most of the children that William had been reading to, seated in there and eating. The room was filled with the murmur of dozens of muted conversations. The noise died down a bit as everyone became aware of their entrance. After a few moments, several called out greetings to William and the noise level slowly rose back up to its previous level as they made their way to the back of the chamber. By their glances, and an occasional overheard word, she knew that she was the subject of many of those conversations.

Over along one side of the room, she spotted another like William but he had dark reddish brown hair/mane? And was seated next to Linda. She immediately realized that they were the ones she had seen in the park that night three years ago. The male made some comment to Linda and she laughed. Their affection for each other was as obvious as it had been between Elizabeth and Charles. Sitting with them were two young women and two young leonine men around William's age. Against the wall on the other side of the chamber, she saw another leonine male with a magnificent snow-white mane. Beside him sat an elegant woman, her snow-white hair a perfect match to his. There was an almost regal bearing to them both. William noticed the direction of her gaze and informed her that they were Catherine Chandler and Vincent Wells.

Patricia was suitably impressed. Catherine Chandler was legendary in New York legal and society circles. She had been responsible for the creation of the Wells-Chandler Foundation. Her charity work was as legendary as her legal career. She and Elizabeth's father Joe Maxwell were both held up as examples of ideal prosecutors. Now she understood why Catherine had never married. What normal man could ever compete with that magnificent creature beside her?

It was common knowledge in New York that, besides her major contributions to Catherine's Wells-Chandler Foundation, Elizabeth Maxwell had continued to build on her father's legacy and that her own daughter was already following in her mother's footsteps. It had become obvious to Patricia that she had found herself thrust into the midst of several major players in the city's social and legal scenes. She also realized that she had become privy to some very big secrets that would rock the foundations of New York society if they were to become known. It was a humbling thought.

At the back wall was a large pot containing a stew that emitted an aroma that made her mouth water and her stomach growl in response. Next to it were several platters of breads, fruits and vegetables. They were all nearly half-empty. William handed her a plate and a bowl and told her to grab whatever she wanted. He then proceeded to prepare a plate for little Karen, questioning her on her preferences. She apparently loved the stew, the little crescent rolls and the carrots but hated the peas.

William led Patricia over to an open area near the entrance then set Karen down in the seat next to her. He went back to the back, filled his own plate and returned sitting across the table from her and Karen. As they began to eat, William told her a little about the family history and the origins of the tunnel community. Once while they were talking little Karen suddenly pointed over William's shoulder and said, "Disdacson, Daddy." When he looked in the direction she had pointed, she stabbed one of his carrots giggling, and then popped it in her mouth. Patricia found herself laughing delightedly along with William at Karen's little trick.

~ o ~

Elizabeth looked up as Harold and Carolyn approached her office. A lot of discussion last night had gone into the decision to allow them into the tunnels. In the end, the fact that they had already seen Jacob and Linda was the tipping factor in the decision. She stood up as they entered and greeted them.

Harold started off without preamble. "Do we get to see Patty?"

Elizabeth smiled back. "Yes, you do. I talked to the ones that are taking care of her and they have approved allowing you to visit their home." She glanced at her watch. "In fact if we leave right now we can join them for lunch." She grabbed her jacket and headed out of her office trailed by two very surprised young people. As they passed the pretty blonde clerk on their way to the elevators, Elizabeth called out. "Clarissa, we're going out for a long lunch. We should be back in a few hours."

"Sure thing, Mom." She responded as they passed through the doors. She bore a more than passing resemblance to Elizabeth.

Harold had been expecting more runaround and stonewalling and had therefore worked out a whole series of arguments and demands. This easy acceptance left him bereft of speech. Carolyn also didn't know how to respond. Hand in hand, they mutely followed Elizabeth.

Once they had exited the building, Elizabeth stood on the sidewalk scanning the traffic as if she was looking for something. A taxi pulled up right in front of them. Elizabeth opened the door and waved them in. As soon as the door was closed, the taxi took off.

"We're going to the south main park tunnel entrance, Andy." She told the driver.

"Sure thing, Elizabeth." He replied.

Carolyn and Harold looked at each other in surprise. Something weird was definitely going on here. Harold wondered if they should start to worry. It didn't take long to realize that they were headed towards Central Park.

Elizabeth turned to them, her expression very serious. "First off, the place we are going to is secret. It is very important that you tell no one about where we are going or what you see there. The lives of many very good people depend on the secrecy of this place. Before I take you there, you must give me your word that you will protect the secret of this place. If you don't think you can do that, tell me now so that I can make alternate arrangements for you to see Patricia."

Carolyn responded. "You mean we don't have to keep the secret to see Patty?" She was trying to understand.

Elizabeth replied. "If I can count on you to keep the secret we can go see her right now. If not we will return to the office and I will make arrangements to have her moved to another safe place where you can see her without endangering the secret of the place we're going to now." She glanced out the front window gauging their progress. "Keep in mind; if I take you there you will be taking responsibility for the welfare of a lot of people. I just want you to understand that before we get there."

Harold thought hard about what she had said. The fact that they had not been 'required' to make that promise in order to get to see Patricia is what decided him. He took Carolyn's hand. "I'm willing to give you my word." He looked at Carolyn. "Babe, what do you think?"

Carolyn stared into his eyes for a second then looked over at Elizabeth. "I promise to keep your secret, too."

Elizabeth gazed at the two of them for a second, judging. "Very well. We'll be there in a very short time."

_**Continued in Part 8**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	8. Wonders

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 8 : Wonders**

Ten minutes after they left the government building, the taxi pulled over near the Central Park band shell. Harold looked around in surprise. This was the area where Patricia had been concentrating her search for the creature and it was not too far from the spot where she had disappeared. As soon as they got out, the taxi took off without even collecting a fare.

Totally confused they followed Elizabeth across the park and past the band shell. She led them to an old storm drain runoff culvert. Once there she proceeded into the culvert as Harold and Carolyn stood by the opening, looking at each other, uncertain and a little worried. What was going on here? Why was she trying to lead them into a storm drain? Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harold wondered with a shiver if this was an attempt to get rid of a bothersome nuisance. But why all the rigmarole about keeping secrets if this was a one way journey?

Elizabeth reappeared just inside the opening. "Well? You coming or do we return to the office?" There was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Into a storm drain?" Carolyn asked incredulously.

Elizabeth smiled. "I told you that this place is hidden. Where else would you hide the access to a secret place?" She chuckled. "It's your choice. Go on or go back." She stood there patiently waiting while they tried to decide what to do.

Two preteens came pelting around a corner into the gully and skidded to a halt, apparently surprised at finding someone else here. They stood there staring at Harold and Carolyn, fidgeting uncertainly. Then recognition spread across their faces when Elizabeth stepped out of the shadowed opening.

"Ashley, Carl, you had better get a move on or you'll miss lunch." Elizabeth told them.

The two youngsters nodded and dashed into the storm drain to be quickly swallowed in the darkness.

Harold and Carolyn looked at each other then Harold took her hand and shrugged. "Lead on." He remarked.

Elizabeth turned and headed into the storm drain with Harold and Carolyn trailing behind. The round concrete tunnel had a very slight downward slope and the darkness began to close in as they walked. Just before it got too dark to see, it started to get lighter again. They passed under a ten-foot high shaft with a grate at the top. The tunnel bent to the left at this point and continued on. After they had walked about two hundred feet, they came to a five-way junction. Elizabeth came to a stop in the junction. Two of the tunnels led off in an upward slope like the one they had come down. A fourth tunnel led off in a downward slope. The fifth tunnel was only four feet deep ending abruptly at a flat concrete wall. The short tunnel was blocked off by an ancient rusty iron grate. There was a gate in the old barrier but it looked like it had rusted shut decades ago.

Elizabeth reached between the bars and fumbled along the roughened concrete wall for a moment. Then there was a click and the back wall of the short tunnel slid smoothly aside. Elizabeth then grabbed a bar, giving a yank and the entire iron barred barrier swung away from the opening.

Harold and Carolyn gazed down the newly revealed tunnel in fascination.

Elizabeth stood aside with a chuckle and indicated for them to enter. After they passed through, she pulled the grate shut with an audible click. A child's voice crying out a plaintive, "No fair," echoed back at them from somewhere down the tunnel to be answered by another child's echoing laughter. Elizabeth reached out and pressed the lower of two discolored patches on the tunnel wall and the eight-inch thick concrete slab slid back into place, plunging them into darkness.

Harold and Carolyn both felt a moment of panic then a small light overhead came on. This tunnel went for about twenty feet then split. The branch on the right took off at a sharp angle and sloped upward. The left branch sloped more steeply downward. Elizabeth led them down the left branch.

After about a hundred feet, the round concrete tunnel gave way to ancient rectangular brick walled tunnels that zig-zaged with multiple intersections. They were both soon hopelessly lost in this Byzantine maze. Harold and Carolyn became aware at this point of a faint irregular banging that sounded like metal on metal.

They came to a large chamber with a great twelve-foot diameter circular shaft in the center of it. There was a stone stairway along the outer wall of the shaft.

Elizabeth led them down the stairs and then into a labyrinth of rough rock walled tunnels. They stopped for a minute in a chamber that looked like an emergency room but it was empty except for a middle-aged woman sitting in a back, office-like, alcove. She looked up from her little desk and said everyone was in the dining chamber then went back to whatever she was doing. They continued on their way and shortly found themselves in a large chamber that looked like the strangest library they had ever seen. It looked like something out of a strange fantasy video.

Elizabeth led them down a spiral iron stairway to the bottom level then out another opening into another rock tunnel. After a short time, Harold and Carolyn became aware of the sound of voices coming from the opening ahead. They passed through it and found themselves in what looked like a crowded school cafeteria.

They heard their names called and looked over to see a smiling Patricia sitting next to a small child that looked enough like her to be her sister. The person across the table turned around and they suddenly found themselves staring into the face of the Creature of Central Park, less than fifteen feet away. Carolyn felt her heart skip a beat as she clung to Harold for support and comfort. They both felt a strong stab of _fear_ at the sight of that frightening creature sitting so close to them as well as their friend.

The creature stood up and they both took a step backwards. Then nodding to them, he headed towards the back of the large chamber closely followed by Elizabeth. Patricia waved them over. "Harold, Carolyn, come over and sit down with me." She was grinning from ear to ear and patting the empty spaces next to her. After a quick glance around they went over and sat where she indicated. Both of them eyed the half-empty plate of food where the creature had been sitting.

Patricia chuckled. "Don't worry. I don't think he eats people."

"Patty, we were so worried about you." Carolyn spoke first. "What happened?"

Patricia looked at them for a minute then the little child next to her spoke up. "Daddy save Aunt Patty." She was beaming at them with pride.

"That's right honey, he did save me." Patricia responded patting the child on the head. Then she addressed Harold and Carolyn. "This is my niece, little Karen." She smiled at their astonished reaction. "Karen, honey, these are my friends Harold and Carolyn."

"Hi." The little girl responded.

Harold spoke up. "Does this mean that your sister is down here?"

Patricia's face clouded over. "No . . . My sister was killed in that building fire three years ago . . . The same night we were in the park." She paused for a moment to regain her composure. "The woman we saw was Linda." She pointed to the far side of the chamber.

Craning their heads, they both spotted a woman that resembled Karen sitting next to '_another_' creature. Patricia continued. "It was Linda and Jacob, the one sitting next to her, that we saw in the park that night."

Elizabeth came back carrying a plate full of food and sat down across from the little girl. The creature came up behind her carrying two full plates that he set before a startled Harold and Carolyn. Then he sat back down next to Elizabeth.

"Thank-you, William." Patricia smiled at him.

"You're welcome, Patricia." He replied. "Didn't mean to startle you." He remarked to Harold and Carolyn.

Carolyn and Harold were both surprised at the sound of his voice. Carolyn felt something quiver deep inside at the sound of it. She looked over at Patricia to see her grinning back at her. Before they could respond, Patricia continued. "It was William that saved me after those creeps shot me." She then proceeded to tell them what had happened that night she had been shot. Little Karen listened intently to the story. Carolyn and Harold both felt their gaze continuously drawn toward William as Patricia spun her tale of peril and rescue. They were both torn between fear and wonder at everything they were seeing and hearing. They were both horrified when she told them how close it had been.

Patricia asked them what had been happening while she was gone. While they were talking, little Karen suddenly pointed over Williams left shoulder and cried out. "Disdasion, Daddy." And when he looked she speared his last carrot piece and popped it into her mouth.

He looked down at his plate. "You did it to me again." He complained as she giggled and Patricia laughed.

Harold and Carolyn had watched this little incident in surprised amusement. Somehow, it suddenly made him seem much less frightening to them

William stood up. "Come on you little carrot thief, I think it's time for your nap." Karen held up her arms to be picked up. He reached across the table and easily lifted her out of her seat bringing her, giggling, over the table in a high arc. He gave her a kiss on the cheek as he settled her on his arm, then he carried her out of the dining chamber.

Harold raised his eyebrows as he addressed Patricia. "She called him Daddy?"

"He found her and raised her." Patricia responded. "You haven't touched your food." She pointed out to them.

Now that they had been reminded of it, the delicious smell got to them and they both dug in.

Elizabeth jumped in and told them the story of how William had found and rescued little Karen just when the building was set on fire. Once again they were both horrified and amazed at the story of what had happened to Patricia's little sister and her niece.

Carolyn addressed Patricia. "What do you plan to do about little Karen?" She asked.

Patricia thought for a while before answering. "I think for now she should stay here." She paused and placed her hand over Elizabeth's forearm. "Down here I know that she is safe and well cared for." She smiled. "And William really does love her like she was his own daughter."

Harold and Carolyn were both surprised at her answer. Elizabeth appeared to be both surprised and pleased at her response. Harold asked. "What about you? Are you coming back with us?"

Again, she thought for a while before answering. "I . . . think I will stay down here for a little while longer." She looked down at her plate then back at them. "There have been some . . . developments that I need to deal with." She glanced over at Elizabeth. "That is if they will let me stay here for a while."

Elizabeth smiled at her. "I think we can find you a free chamber if that's what you want."

Patricia smiled back, nodding. "That's what I want."

Another creature walked into the room and right up to where they were sitting. To their surprise, he bent down and kissed Elizabeth's cheek. "Sorry I'm so late. I got tied up on some foundation business."

Elizabeth responded. "That's OK dear." Then she stood up. "If you will pardon me, I'm going to see about arranging a chamber for you." She headed over across the dining chamber to where the other creature was sitting. The new creature was following right behind her.

Carolyn and Harold both stared after the strange couple dumbfounded. Finally, Harold asked. "What developments were you talking about?"

She looked at him for a moment. "It's William. He's in love with me." She paused to let that statement sink in. When she saw the shocked looks cross their faces she continued. "I need to work out my own feelings towards him and then decide what to do about it."

"But . . . But . . . He's . . . uh . . . He's . . ." Carolyn ended lamely uncertain what to say.

"I know exactly what he is. And in answer to what you were thinking, those two that just left are his parents." She smiled as Harold and Carolyn both stared after Charles and Elizabeth in surprise.

Another creature entered the dining chamber. He bore a closer resemblance to William than the others except that his mane was a couple of shades lighter and he had blue eyes. He was accompanied by a lovely young woman with bright red hair and freckles. They were herding three small children before them. Two of the children were leonine but their fur was the same color as the redheaded woman. The third child was a normal looking girl but her hair was the same blond color as the male.

The three children were seated in an open space at the next table over from theirs. Carolyn could not help thinking how adorable the two small males looked. Patricia recognized the youngest male from William's class this morning. Harold was trying to absorb the idea that not only were there several of those creatures but that they could produce offspring with normal humans.

Harold and Carolyn both looked back at Patricia and noticed a rather dreamy quality in her eyes as she gazed at the three children. They looked at each other in surprise then back at the three children.

Harold addressed Patricia. "Patty, are you seriously considering what I think you are?" He was a little uncertain and a little concerned.

"Huh . . . ah . . . what?" Patricia seemed to be dragging herself out of a daze as she looked at Harold. She blinked twice. "What did you say?"

Carolyn responded. "You really are thinking about it, aren't you?" The whole concept seemed so unreal yet she **had** felt the effects of 'that voice' and she had to admit that once you got past the strangeness and initial fright, they **were** rather magnificent looking.

"I'm beginning to." Patricia replied now looking at the back where the children's parents, the relationship was undeniable, were collecting plates of food. She looked back at Harold and Carolyn. "I talked to their doctor about them. The things that make them so unique are all tied to the Y chromosome. Other than that they are genetically human."

Glancing back at the children, as a biology major, Harold quickly realized the ramifications of this news. "So only males can inherit it." He glanced back at Patricia. "And only the males can pass it on."

"William is actually a very sweet person. He has been very kind to me, despite all the ways I've managed to hurt him." She glanced at Harold. "Because of his feelings for me, William has become emotionally linked to me." She paused watching their reactions. "He can feel my emotions and, when they're strong enough, I can feel his." She saw both of their eyes open wide at this revelation. "That is how he was able to be there to save my life when I was shot." She looked straight at Harold. "That's what happened during our last disastrous liaison. He knew what was happening and I felt the pain it was causing him. Even worse was the emptiness when he tried to close off his link to me."

As they digested this, they realized how much of her recent behavior it explained. Harold shivered as he tried to imagine what it must have been like for William. Though he could not understand this link she talked about, he could understand the pain of knowing someone you loved was making it with someone else.

Harold spoke up. "I know you never really loved me but I do care a great deal about you." He took her hand. "I don't understand it and I'm not sure I like it, but I'm here for you and I will support you." He let go of her hand. "I just hope you make the right decision and I hope it works out for you." There was still a great deal of skepticism in his voice.

The parents of the three children returned loaded down with food. In most ways, they were so much like any other typical loving family.

After a while, Elizabeth returned. She was greeted with a chorus of 'Hi Grandmother' from the three children and a warm 'Hello, Mother' from the adult male and the redheaded woman. She acknowledged the greetings then turned to Harold, Carolyn and Patricia. "Patricia, we've arranged for temporary quarters for you. Just mention the green guest chamber to anyone and they will show you how to get there." She turned to Harold and Carolyn. "I have to be getting back to work soon. You can come with me or ask anyone to lead you back to the park when you're ready to leave."

Harold quickly consulted with Carolyn and they decided to leave with Elizabeth. They said their goodbyes while Elizabeth spent a few minutes talking to her son and his family at the next table. Finally, she got up and they left together.

Patricia continued to sit there watching the very unusual family at the next table and thinking.

After a while, Patricia got up and headed to the library chamber. Other than the infirmary, it was the only place she knew how to get to from the dining chamber. She perused the shelves looking for something to read. As she was scanning the titles, she came to a collection of books by Brigit O'Donnell, all lovingly cared for and in immaculate condition. She started to reach for **300 Days** when in the middle of the shelf she noticed what looked like a hand bound manuscript. She pulled it out and read the title written in beautiful silver calligraphy on the front cover. **Once Upon A Time In The City Of New York : The Story of Vincent And Catherine** by **Brigit O'Donnell**. She carefully opened it up. On high quality paper, she found a manuscript written in Brigit O'Donnell's own neat hand. Patricia and her sister were both fans of Brigit and had read everything she had ever written. This was a totally unknown and unpublished book by a bestselling author. The date showed that it had been written two years before Brigit's death. Any collector in the world would give their right arm to own this priceless manuscript.

Patricia sat down in a worn but comfortable old chair in the far corner of the room and began to read. Soon she was totally immersed in the world of Catherine and Vincent. She had learned earlier that all the leonine people she had met were descendants of those two. As she read about how Vincent and Catherine met in near tragedy and took their slow halting steps towards a relationship, that she soon found herself rooting for, she lost herself in the incredible fairy tale that she understood to be true. Brigit was an excellent writer and her words brought that time alive for Patricia. She rejoiced with their triumphs and wept for their tragedies, as though she were actually there.

After a couple of hours, drawn by the spectrum of emotions he was sensing from her, William found her there deep in the book and oblivious to the world. She was about a quarter of the way through the book and by the turbulent nature of her emotions; William guessed she was reading the chapters about the plague that had swept through the community back in 1988. For a long time, he just stood there at the top of the stairs watching her.

Patricia had reached the end of the chapter about Catherine's first Winterfest when she looked up from the manuscript, her mind awash in wonder. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. In a way, there were several similarities between Catherine's first meeting with Vincent and her second meeting with William. They had both been saved from sure death by an incredible almost mythical creature that turned out to be much more than one would be led to believe by their appearance.

As her mind swirled with what she had read so far, she became aware of the more intense than ever warmth around her heart. She looked up; scanning the room for the one she knew had to be there. She spotted William at the top of the stairs, little Karen clinging to his leg. Her heart swelled at the sight of him as he started down the stairs. Karen had her arms and legs wrapped around his right leg and was giggling as she rode his leg like a carousel horse. William seemed to be totally unencumbered by the load. Patricia couldn't help laughing at the sight.

"Mind if we join you?" He asked as he approached.

"Not at all." She replied

As he sat down in the other chair that occupied that corner, Karen clambered up into his lap. "Daddy read." She demanded imperiously.

William looked at Patricia. "Would you like me to read to you?" He asked.

The thought of hearing the story told in his voice gave her goose bumps. She handed the book over to him. With Karen happily settle in his lap he began to read where she left off. Once again, she was caught up in the story only this time the sound of his voice reached deep inside her and added even more dimension to the story.

As William read the, to him, familiar story he could feel its effects on Patricia's emotions. By using the power of his voice, he was able to draw on and intensify the emotions she was feeling.

Karen was safely ensconced in her daddy's lap hearing her favorite story about Granddaddy and Grandmommy. To her grandparents and great grandparents, were the same thing. She was content. Daddy always told the best stories.

Occasionally Patricia would glance over at William and Karen and get a warm feeling deep inside. William was aware of this and was happy. Little by little, she was falling for him.

_**Continued in Part 9**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	9. Tragedy

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 9 : Tragedy**

Harold and Carolyn went to see Patricia's father and informed him that though, like they had suspected, she had been shot, she was safe and doing well. They told him that no less than District Attorney Elizabeth Maxwell was personally seeing to her welfare and that she was supposed to be coming back to school shortly. Over the next few days, Elizabeth carried several letters between Patricia and her father.

Next, they went to the school administration to deliver a message from Elizabeth explaining that Patricia had been injured in a mugging attempt and was under the care of the DA office. They were requested to give Harold any assignments that she would need to get completed while she was out.

During that time, William showed Patricia around his world. Every new sight filled her with renewed wonder. In the evenings she continued to listen to him read Brigit's manuscript about Vincent and Catherine. She became aware that he was allowing her joy to fill him as well as increasing the strength of his presence within her. She discovered that sharing her joy with him in this way made it unbelievably better for her. She had always known that happiness shared was magnified but this was whole orders of magnitude better. All the while she found herself becoming closer to him 'til he was more than daddy to her niece and close friend to herself. She no longer thought of William as a monster or a creature but as a truly magnificent person.

At the same time Elizabeth found herself contemplating the possibility that they may soon have to bring Patricia's father in on their secret if things continued developing as William was hoping. She had met him a few days ago after they had positively identified Patricia's sister as the body from the fire. She had seen a great sadness in the man that had touched her deeply. The news that his older daughter was alive and doing well had gone a long way toward lightening his mood. Elizabeth was actually looking forward to bring him in on the secret so that she could introduce him to his granddaughter. She was sure that it would bring a great deal of joy back into his life.

~ o ~

It had been a week since Harold and Carolyn's visit below and Elizabeth was sitting at her desk, neck deep in the latest case, the capture of sixteen terrorists. Yesterday, the day before the terrorists could carry out their plan, the FBI had raided eight locations intercepting eight large panel trucks filled with a very nasty combination of Fertilizer bomb, plastic explosive, several boxes of nails and ball bearings, and canisters of poison gas. Since the events of 2024, terrorist cases took priority and were dealt with swiftly. If convicted they would serve a life-without-parole sentence. The information she had passed to her contact at I.F.F. had definitely born fruit.

That's when startling news of another terrorist attack came through. Unfortunately there had been a ninth truck that slipped unknown through the net and this morning made it halfway through Manhattan on its way to the United Nations before the police had spotted and cornered it. The terrorists detonated the bomb rather than let themselves be captured.

The bomb had taken out a whole city block less than a mile from Central Park. The poison gas had reached a six block radius and the decontamination and disaster groups had their hands full. This was the first time there had been an even partially successful attack in the US since 9-11. Soon the whole city was busy dealing with the aftermath.

Around noon word came that some of the gas had gotten into the tunnels and they had been forced to close off all tunnels north of Central Park. Elizabeth had gone to the experts for information. She couched her questions as gas in the subway system and was told that it would take about a month before that area could be considered safe again. She passed the information on to Jacob and the council.

That evening Elizabeth got some more disturbing news. Patricia's father had been driving to his work on the next street over. He had been stuck in the traffic jamb caused by the road blocks that had stopped the terrorist's truck. He had been hit and killed by a large piece of shrapnel from the bomb when it went off.

Elizabeth headed below to tell Patricia but found William first. When she told him what had happened he insisted that she let him tell her. She knew that he would be the best one to deliver the bad news but she also knew how much it would cost him emotionally. In the end he prevailed. He knew that Patricia was in her chamber with Karen so he stopped off first at Peter and Cherry's chamber to ask a favor.

~ o ~

William entered Patricia's chamber. Karen jumped up and squealed, "Daddy." As she ran to him and threw her arms around his legs.

William picked her up and hugged her. "Good news honey. Uncle Peter and Aunt Cherry have invited you to spend the night with David, Catherine and Robert."

Peter came in behind William at this point. Karen was soon dancing with excitement over the prospect of spending the night with her cousins. Peter looked at William a hint of seriousness in his face. "We'll stop by your place and pick-up a few things for Karen on our way." Then he took Karen's hand and led her out of the chamber.

Patricia was smiling over Karen's antics thinking she was such a sweet child, for a three year old. Was she ever that headstrong when she was three? She looked up at William and her smile faltered. The sadness in his eyes was unmistakable and she could also feel it in the presence within her as he reached over and pulled the tapestry across the doorway. Something was definitely wrong. Did it have something to do with the bomb this morning? She began to feel the stirrings of dread within herself. William had something unpleasant to tell her and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.

William sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand. "Patricia . . ." He sighed. Patricia swallowed hard. This was not going to be good. "Patricia . . . It's about your father . . ."

She felt her throat constrict as she stared into his pain filled golden eyes. She barely shook her head trying to deny what was coming and knowing it was inevitable as his hand tightened around hers. "Your father was . . . killed in the bomb blast this morning." Her mind went numb. She felt like she couldn't breath as her heartbeat roared in her ears. The whole world seemed to go grey. "I'm so sorry." She looked into his face and saw her own pain reflected in those unique golden eyes. He placed his arms around her and gently drew her in.

For a moment she just remained there, shock overwhelming her, then she began to react shaking her head. "No . . . No . . ." Then she was clinging to him as the _sorrow_ and loss began welling up to the surface. She was suddenly acutely aware of how alone she was. All of her family was gone now. She tightened her grip around him as the emotional storm began to break loose and sweep over her.

There was a shift as William opened his link. Through the now wide open connection he was feeling her _pain_ and absorbing it within himself. At the same time he was letting her feel his _sympathy_ and _comfort_ flowing back toward her. His presence eased the ache inside her heart and after a while the storm began to subside. She felt his lips pressed against the top of her head as she softly cried in his arms. She looked up to see the tears in his eyes and realized that he was experiencing her _pain_ and _loss_, her _grief_, right along with her. She lay her head against his chest. She could feel him sharing her _sorrow_, drawing it away from her.

As he gently rocked her, he felt her slowly drift off to sleep. He found that, even in her sleep, she still clung to him so he shifted around slightly to be more comfortable and continued to hold her sleeping form.

~ o ~

Sometime much later Patricia woke to find herself still embraced in the arms of a sleeping William. They were half reclining propped up by a couple of pillows. For a moment she was confused, then the memories flooded back. It had not been a dream, it was real. The _grief_ began to well up again within her and she buried her face in his chest beginning to weep again. Even in his sleep William reacted, tightening his embrace. She felt the warm _comfort_ flowing to her as she again drifted off to sleep.

~ x x x x x ~

Elizabeth made her way through the tunnels in the early morning as she thought with resignation that it would be a very long day. She had told everyone that the office would be closed until noon and that no one was required to be back until the day after. She knew that many would have things to deal with because of the bomb and this would give them some time to deal. She had her own things to deal with as well. There would be things that Patricia would have to handle over the next few days and Elizabeth was determined to do all she could to help. She had already talked to a lawyer friend and got his promise to handle any necessary legal needs for her if she did not have access to a family lawyer.

She was worried about both William and Patricia. Relaying bad news of this type was almost as hard on the messenger as it was on the one who received it. With his special gift, that would go double for her son and she was sure he had just been through a tough night.

She found her son's chamber empty. Nodding to herself, she turned and headed to Patricia's chamber. The tapestry was down and she hesitated. Normally she would never intrude but this was not normal times. Quietly she pushed the tapestry aside and peered into the chamber. Patricia and her son were both half propped up by pillows on her bed and both sound asleep. Quietly she entered the chamber and approached the bed.

As she looked down on the faces of the sleeping pair she could clearly see the tracks of dried tears in the fur on her son's cheeks and the mascara from Patricia's eyes. She still couldn't figured out where Patricia had found mascara down here in the tunnels. She reached out and gently touched his shoulder. "William, dear."

William awoke to see his mother looking down on him her eyes full of sympathy.

"How is she doing?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

William looked down at the sleeping Patricia, still enclosed in his arms. He looked back up at his mother. "She took it pretty hard."

Patricia awoke to the sound of voices unwilling to open her eyes.

"I'm not surprised." Elizabeth responded. "He was her last living relative besides little Karen. She's all alone now."

There was a slight shift in his shoulders. "Not as long as I'm here. She'll never be alone." There was a ring of conviction in his voice and she could feel warmth spread throughout her body in reaction to his proclamation. Then he looked down at her and tightened his embrace. He could feel the stirrings of her emotions as she had heard his declaration and kissed the top of her head. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see him gazing lovingly at her face. She glanced over to see Elizabeth gazing down at her, concern and sympathy plainly showing in her eyes.

"Morning Patricia, dear. I apologize for disturbing you but there were a couple of things I needed to ask you." Elizabeth grabbed a nearby chair and sat down next to the bed. "First, I wanted to know if you had a family lawyer." She paused, waiting for an answer.

Patricia wrinkled her brow, thinking for a moment. "Ah . . . not that I know of." She shook her head, wondering what this was about.

Elizabeth continued. "There will be certain legal requirements around the disposition of your father and his estate. I know a good lawyer that could take care of these things for you if you would like." There was genuine compassion on her face.

"Sure, that would be OK."

Elizabeth reached out to touch her shoulder. "The other thing I wanted to ask is if you think you are up to identifying your fathers effects."

As this sunk in she realized that if she was being asked to identify his things rather than his body then there probably wasn't much left that was identifiable. Unable to speak, she mutely nodded her head as her eyes began tearing up. William gently caressed her back and neck in reaction to her rising emotions.

Elizabeth nodded back in response then spoke. "William, why don't you bring her by the house around noon. I'll take her into the office for identification. You can wait there till we get back." She half smiled tiredly at them both. "I have some other things to take care of. See you later." She turned and left the chamber.

William disengaged himself and stood up. He looked at the large candle by the bed with hour markings on it's side. It was around 9:30 in the morning. "I'll go check on Karen while you get ready. It's too late for breakfast but I'll see if I can get us a snack we can eat along the way. Be back in about an hour." He gently squeezed her shoulder and left the chamber.

Patricia stared at the swaying tapestry for a moment. She didn't think she could have made it through last night without his love and support. She shook herself out of her reverie and started getting ready for the day. As she got ready she realized that all she had was the standard tunnel attire that they had given her but it was warm and comfortable.

An hour later she heard his voice from beyond the tapestry. "Patricia, it's William. May I come in?" She was momentarily confused, then she remembered that, to William, a tapestry across the opening was the equivalent of a locked door. In fact, down here it was more secure than a locked door could ever be up in the city. She stepped over and pulled the tapestry aside, hooking it back. "I'm ready William." She stepped out and joined him. He handed her a small tortilla roll stuffed with scrambled egg and several vegetables then he lead her off in a new direction that she had not yet been. This new route was far longer than any before.

~ o ~

They were now in an old utility tunnel when William stopped at a slight alcove in the side of the tunnel. He reached over to a small electrical junction box and flipped the front surface open. Inside it was empty except for a small push button. He pushed the button in an irregular pattern then paused. He looked over at her and smiled. She was sure he had felt her curiosity.

"Same code as we use on the pipes. I just used my name." He took her hand in his.

At that moment the encased utility light over head turned green and she heard a click from the six foot tall utility cabinet in front of them. William pushed on the cabinet and it swung inward. As it swung open the overhead light turned back to white. He led her through and closed the disguised door behind them. They went up a long flight of stairs that turned two corners and then he stopped at a spot about twenty feet from the top of the stairs. William pushed on a section that was obviously a door and it swung open.

They stepped through the doorway into an elegant well furnished parlor. Charles was sitting on a large comfortable looking antique Stickley chair facing them. "Welcome to our home Patricia." He greeted her as William pushed the door closed.

"Thank-you." She responded, then the sound of a video news program drew her attention to the wall behind her. She could see no sign of the doorway they had just come through in the rich wood paneled wall. The video screen was located right about where she figured the doorway had to be. The report was about yesterdays terrorist attack and the government's response.

William drew her over to a sofa next to the chair his father was sitting in. By now she had become fascinated by the beautiful iron and wood spiral staircase on the far right side of the room. As they sat down on the sofa she noticed the large front door flanked by two beautiful stained glass windows. One had a rose motif and the other had a candle pattern. Then she noticed that they both had a lion's head half hidden in the random looking background pattern. She probably wouldn't have noticed it if her mind hadn't been influenced by the two leonine men in the room with her.

Everything about this place gave a feel of old world understated wealth and elegance. It was well known that Elizabeth Maxwell along with Catherine Chandler's four daughters had inherited a great deal of wealth from her when she had retired from the world but this was far more than she might have expected. This was where William grew up?

Patricia looked back at William to see him looking back at her and grinning. "Actually Father inherited the house but since he doesn't exist it was mom that was named in the will. He shrugged. "Even though Grandmother Catherine is still alive she put the will through probate and had all the assets legally transferred before she moved Below. Uncle Jacob took over leadership of the community and preferred living Below, though there is Aunt Linda's place in the Bronx." He suddenly got a concerned look on his face. "Aunt Linda's place. Is it OK?" This was addressed to his father.

Charles replied. "Yes, it's about five blocks north of the danger zone. Unfortunately we had to close off all tunnel access north of the park until the gas has time to clear out completely." He shrugged. "Until then several of our family will be using this place as surface access or temporary residence."

They heard a phone ring and Charles went over to a small table by the fireplace and picked up the receiver of an antique non-video phone that looked like it dated back to the last century.

"Maxwell residence . . ."

"Actually Patricia is right here . . ."

"That would be a nice gesture, I think she would appreciate it . . ."

Charles gave out an address on Central Park West.

"We will see you in a few minutes . . ."

He hung up the phone.

"That was your friend Harold. He just heard about your father and wanted to see if Elizabeth could lead them down to see you. He and Carolyn will be over here in about twenty-five minutes."

Patricia was even more impressed now that she knew where this place was located. They continued to watch the news reports while they waited. Soon the room filled with beautiful chimes. Charles pressed a button on his remote and Patricia saw Harold and Carolyn pictured on the video screen. The scene switched back to the news as Charles jumped up and headed for the door. He opened the front door being careful to remain out of sight from the outside. "Welcome to our home." He greeted them as he closed the door behind the two gawking young people.

As soon as they spotted Patricia they headed over. They both noticed that Patricia and William were sitting very close together and he had his arm around her shoulder. This was a new development. "Patty are you OK?" He asked as they approached.

The first thing Patricia noticed as they approached was that Harold and Carolyn were holding hands and that Carolyn kept glancing over at him. She was pleased. It looked like Harold had found someone that could truly return his feelings. "I'm OK . . . William has been great through this." She placed her hand on his chest then looked into his face. I don't know how I could have coped without his support."

"Have a seat." Charles commented as he sat back down. "Elizabeth should be home in about an hour."

On the video they were listing the names of those killed in the explosion. Patricia began to tear up as the name 'Alexander Hubert Harrison' scrolled up the screen. William tightened his arm around Patricia as her tears soaked into his shoulder.

Charles started grumbling. "What is wrong with those fools, listing names before they've even been positively identified much less notifying the next of kin. Elizabeth is going to have a fit." He shook his head. "Someone's going to lose their job over this." He jumped up and walked around the corner past the spiral stair case. A minute later he returned with a glass tumbler and handed it to Patricia. "Here, try a drink of this." He suggested. "It's not very strong, just enough to help."

The drink was sweet, lemony and had just a bit of an alcohol bite. After a couple of sips Patricia did feel a reduction of the tightness in her throat and around her middle. "Thanks." She responded to him.

"You're welcome." Charles responded as he sat back down.

Harold and Carolyn sat down on the sofa next to William and Patricia. Being eight feet long, it was easily able to accommodate all four of them. Carolyn touched Patricia's forearm. "We're both so sorry about your father, Patty. If there is anything we can do for you just let us know."

Patricia leaned her head against Williams shoulder. "Thank-you. I really appreciate that." She looked at William then looked back at them. "I have to go to identify father's things . . . Could you . . . could you go with me?"

Harold spoke up. "Of course we will."

After a while she gave Harold and Carolyn a soft smile. "I'm glad you two have found each other. Harold deserves the best and so do you Carolyn."

They all heard a door open and close from somewhere at the back of the place and a moment later Elizabeth walked in. "Hello Patricia. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes ma'am. Ah . . . Can Harold and Carolyn come with me?"

"Of course. I think that is an excellent idea." She addressed them. "Your both welcome and thank-you for coming to support Patricia. Just give me a minute and we'll go." She hurried up the stairs. About three minutes later she came back down.

_**Continued in Part 10**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	10. Renewal

**THE HUNTER  
**_By Thomas Mc_

* * *

**Chapter 10 : Renewal**

William watched sadly as Elizabeth, Patricia, Harold and Carolyn went out the back door and got into Elizabeth's car. This was one of the very few times that he regretted what he was because it prevented him from going with Patricia when he so desperately wanted to be there for her. He shook his head and slowly returned to the parlor. Charles watched him sympathetically, he of all people understood what his son was going through.

~ o ~

Patricia and Carolyn sat in the back seat holding each other's hands for comfort. Harold sat up front with Elizabeth. They pulled out into the back street, their route being illustrated on the car's GPS screen. As they turned onto Central Park West, a rectangle with the words '**Auto-Trac Available**' appeared at the top of the screen as the display chimed. She touched the rectangle and it changed to '**Auto-Trac (ON)**' then she took her hands from the wheel and turned her attention to Patricia. The car adjusted itself to the standard one and a half second spacing from the vehicle in front of them.

In a very short time the car chimed and the GPS voice announced, "Vehicle is about to leave Auto-Trac roads. Return to manual mode." Elizabeth took the wheel and pressed the 'Auto-Trac' rectangle on the screen. It changed to '**Auto-Trac Available**'. The Auto-Trac rectangle disappeared from the screen as she turned into the underground parking entrance.

Elizabeth led them up to her office. There were only about a half dozen people in the whole DA office. She picked up a large manila envelope and slid the contents onto the desk in front of them.

There was an old antique leather wallet, a Texas longhorn keychain, a scuffed up computer thumb drive, a cellular phone, a University of Texas school ring, an orange barreled pen, a pocket change holder, a white handkerchief with an orange longhorn emblem and the name Alexander embroidered on it and a twenty year old Timex World Time digital/analog watch.

Tentatively she reached out towards the items. Her hand stopped and hovered about two inches above them. A lump rose in her throat as she stared down at the pitiful remnants of her father's forty-eight years laid out before her. Slowly she drew her hand back, the items untouched. "Daddy." She whimpered. Then she turned away, collapsed into Harold's arms and cried. Carolyn was immediately by her side with her arms around her. Elizabeth quietly gathered up the items and put them back into the manila envelope and sealed it.

As she cried on Harold and Carolyn she felt _compassionate warmth_ growing within her, supporting her, comforting her. It was William touching her emotions from afar. She felt her _sorrow_ fade to the background as she released her friends, straitened herself and faced Elizabeth. "What do I do now?"

Elizabeth pulled two pieces of paper from the middle of her desk. "Just sign these. One verifies the identification and the other is a receipt for his effects." She handed Patricia a pen.

~ o ~

The trip back was silent as Patricia stared down at the large envelope that she was turning over and over in her hands. Finally they arrived back at the brownstone and the four of them entered the back door.

William was there at the door waiting for her. She stepped into his arms drawing on the comfort he was offering. "Take me Below." She quietly told him. William picked her up and carried her out through the parlor's hidden door.

Harold and Carolyn stared fascinated at the part of the wall, where the door had just been a second ago. Elizabeth walked up and placed her hands on their shoulders. "I want to thank you both for being there for Patricia today. The biggest drawback to William being what he is, is the inability to be with someone you care about at times like this." There was just the slightest hint of sadness and regret in her eyes that quickly vanished. "I know that my son appreciated your support as much as Patricia did." Her face brightened into a friendly smile. "Now, it's getting late. Would you like to stay for lunch? You're both very welcome to eat with us."

They both accepted the invitation and enjoyed a very nice quiet meal. Harold found it interesting that they had both become so used to the appearance of Charles and William in so short a time. He still wasn't quite sure about the idea of a match between Patricia and something . . . someone like William but there was no denying the connection between them and William had been there for Patty yesterday and last night, when she had needed him the most.

Carolyn and Harold found Charles to be both charming and fascinating as a lunch companion. After lunch they headed back to campus.

~ o ~

William carried Patricia all the way back to her chamber. She laid her head on his shoulder and clung to him, soaking up the physical comfort from his strong arms and the emotional comfort from the _compassion_ that he continued to send to her over their link.

When they reached her chamber, he set her on her feet beside the little desk at the far end. He gently removed the envelope from her tightly clutched hand and placed it on the back corner of the desk. Then he softly touched her cheeks with his hands and wiped away her tears with his furry thumbs. "It will get better with time."

Stepping back and placing his hands on her shoulders he looked into her sad face. "We have a tradition down here for when we loose someone dear to us. It was begun back in Vincent's time." He took her hands in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. "We write a letter to the one we lost, telling them all the things we want to tell them or wish we could have told them. Then we take the letters down to the mirror pool, start a small fire and allow the flames to carry our words to the ones we have lost." He handed her a piece of stationary and a pen. "I think it will do you some good." He placed one hand on her upper arm. "I'll leave you to your thoughts." He gave her arm a little squeeze, "I'll be in my chamber when you are ready."

William unhooked the tapestry and let it fall across the opening as he left, giving her the privacy such an endeavor required. She stood there for a while staring at the gently swaying tapestry then she looked down at the paper and pen she was holding. She sat down at the desk where she found her eyes drawn to the large envelope on the far back corner of the old desk and felt herself tearing up again. With an effort she pulled her gaze away from the envelope and down to the paper in front of her.

For a while Patricia just sat there staring at the piece of paper on the desk before her. Then she finally started by writing to her father how much she missed him and how much she loved him. She stared at the half dozen lines for a while thinking it was so inadequate. Then she wrote about the times she remembered when they had been a happy family, telling how much those memories meant to her. This led to the not so happy times when her father had been there for her to advise and comfort her. She stopped and stared at the last paragraph for a moment. She began writing again, this time much more slowly. This part turned out to be very hard for her. She haltingly wrote about the summer Karen disappeared and how she felt about what happened to her sister. She ended that paragraph by forgiving her father for what she believed was his part in her sister leaving. After staring at the last paragraph for a very long time she added to it by asking him to forgive her for the times when she had disappointed him or caused him to worry. She stopped writing and reread the last few paragraphs over several times before she could continue. Next she told him about the fantastic new world she had found Below and the wondrous denizens that inhabited it. Her pen seemed to fly over the page as she wrote about one denizen in particular named William and the effect he had on her. She told him about his beautiful precocious granddaughter that he had never seen. She finished up by again stating how much she loved and missed him.

She put down the pen and stared at what she had written. She was surprised that she had managed to fill three whole pages. As she gazed at the three pages she pondered the marks of her teardrops that were scattered over them. William was right, just the act of writing them had released a great deal of the load of sorrow she had been carrying. It had also reminded her of all the years of good memories she still carried with her. Standing up she carefully folded the three sheets of paper, squared her shoulders and headed to William's chamber.

William stood up from his desk as she entered and she noticed that he picked up a sheet of paper as he did so.

He looked down at the paper in his hand then back up at her. "I thought I would write one as well." He came forward, folding the paper and putting it in a pocket. Then he took her arm. "Shall we go?" He asked as he moved towards the doorway.

He picked up a small bundle of wood sitting beside the doorway on the way out. It took the better part of an hour and a half to make the long silent trek to the mirror pool, each of them deep in their own thoughts. All the way there Patricia's thoughts kept coming back to how much comfort it gave her just having William near.

When they arrived Patricia stared into the pool in wonder. This was the first time she had seen this place and she kept looking at her face and the myriad of stars reflected in the smooth surface. When she looked up she saw only the darkness of the cavern ceiling. Where did the stars come from?

William quickly got the fire burning cheerily beside the pool then kneeled down on the other side of it from Patricia. He reached into a pocket and pulled out the letter he had written. He looked down at the letter in his hand and began to speak softly. "We never met, and I am sorry for that, but I thank you for the gift of your daughter. I promise that I will always be there to protect and care for her for as long as she will let me." He dropped his letter into the flames then gazed across the fire at Patricia.

She swallowed the lump in her throat then looked down at the folded pages in her hand. "Goodbye, Daddy, I will miss you." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up at William. "But I think I'm going to be OK." She dropped her letter into the fire and watched as it turned to dozens of tiny red sparks floating up into the air. Patricia gazed across the fire at William. Three times now he had been there for her when she needed him. Twice when she had been nearly overcome with sorrow and he had shared in her sorrow helping her to release it and move on.

This is what true love is, she thought, sharing the pain as well as the joys. As she looked into his magnificent leonine face she finally understood that she really had fallen in love with him. He came around the fire and put his arms around her. Here was the soul deep love she had always dreamed of, and then some. She threw her arms around him and again began to cry, but this time the tears that soaked into his shirt were carriers of love.

The long trek back was also made in silence but this time, as they walked hand in hand, it was the comfortable silence of two people that were happy just to be in each other's presence. By the time they reached the main tunnels it was well into dinner time so they headed straight to the dining chamber. Charles and Elizabeth were already there so William and Patricia sat with them.

"Been to the Mirror Pool?" Charles remarked as they sat down. Patricia looked at him in surprise. He shrugged with a half tilt of his head. "I can smell the wood smoke." He smiled.

"Things will get better dear." Elizabeth advised. "Besides in two and a half months is Winterfest and you're not allowed to be unhappy during that." At her look of curiosity Elizabeth explained the festival that was so unique to the tunnel community. Though she had read about it in the manuscript it was different hearing about it from Elizabeth's perspective.

To Patricia the concept seemed totally appropriate to these people and she found that she was looking forward to experiencing this new aspect of Williams's life.

~ x x x x x ~

The next Monday Patricia returned to school and resumed her studies with renewed interest and vigor. The lawyer Elizabeth had arranged for her, quickly and efficiently handled all the legalities for her. She now owned her family's condo free and clear and there was a small trust fund that covered all of the expenses of home ownership as well as a nice little income that just covered her college expenses.

Her first Winterfest was a totally magical experience. The opening ceremony moved her to tears and the friendship shown her by everyone there warmed her to her soul. Her most surprising discovery was when she met Supermodel Emily Hanson escorted by William's cousin Devin. All in all the evening was both joyful and enlightening.

Nearly every weekend Patricia spent Below with William and about the time the first flowers of spring were once again in full bloom they had become lovers. Immediately afterwards she discovered that there were very few secrets in the world Below as everyone was soon aware of her and William's new status. Everyone apparently approved of the new situation even to an approving nod from Charles and Elizabeth.

Harold and Carolyn were married that same spring and Patricia served as maid of honor. Though William was not able to attend he was still present through Patricia's emotions.

~ o ~

Patricia gazed around the great hall, her eyes dazzled by the way the candle light sparkled off the mineral encrusted walls of the great hall. Out in the middle of the floor her two best friends, Harold and Carolyn were dancing the waltz still half stunned by the beauty and magic that surrounded them. Patricia smiled as she remembered her first Winterfest last year. Even though she was now a seasoned veteran she still felt just a little bit overwhelmed by it all. Over in the corner she spotted little Karen, now five, playing some kind of board game with other children her age, and smiled. Patricia couldn't conceive of a better place for her niece to grow up than the tunnels or a better person to raise her than William.

William gazed down at the small package in his hand then back over at Patricia standing near the back stairway. As he made his way toward her he felt his nervousness rise. He was positive what her response would be, but he couldn't help feeling just a little bit uncertain. As he approached she looked over at him and smiled. He felt a familiar warmth inside in response to her smile. They embraced and kissed then William stepped back and stared longingly into her eyes. He drew the small package from his pocket. "Patricia, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He held the now open box out to her. Inside was a beautiful silver ring with a perfect emerald that matched the color of her eyes.

William had brought three raw uncut emeralds back from the crystal cavern last month. Harold had gotten the stone cut and the ring made for William at a well known New York jewelry company. The remainder of the first large emerald had been turned into matching pendants and earrings that were destined to be Christmas presents for both Carolyn and Patricia. It had all been paid for by the two other large raw emeralds.

Barely glancing at the ring Patricia threw her arms around his neck. "Of course I will my love." Then they were engaged in a passionate kiss much to the amusement of those around them. She released him and, before he could react, took the ring from the box to put it on her own finger. As she stood there admiring how right it looked, everyone around her grinned.

The current song came to an end and William pulled Patricia up onto the stage. Her hand firmly clasped in his, William announced their engagement to enthusiastic cheers. They stepped down and the band started up a very old song, that they had both become very fond of lately, called '**Never My Love**' for their first dance.

~ x x x x x ~

In the world above it was a sunny Summer day. Below the sunshine paled next to the light of golden eyes and emerald eyes that gazed into each other as they spoke their vows of love. The magic words 'I now pronounce you husband and wife' were intoned and they entered into each other's embrace. As they broke from the kiss Patricia whispered in his ear. "I love you, husband . . . and father of my first child."

William drew his head back and gazed in surprise into her beautiful green eyes as she smiled and nodded her answer to his unspoken question. With even more reason he tilted his head back and cut loose with a roar of triumph as she clung to him and laughed with joy. It was said that every male descendant of Vincent had begun their marriage with such a roar. Patricia liked that tradition. It seemed to bring an extra joyfulness to the occasion, especially with the cheers of the guests in response.

Soon everyone was busy moving things around as the great hall was reconfigured for the reception. Harold and Carolyn came up to them. "Congratulations Will. That roar was a perfect way to cap off the ceremony. I would have done that myself when we were married if I had your ability. He drew Carolyn in close.

Patricia looked up to see Vincent and Catherine approaching. To her there was something almost mythic about them. They were the origin, the pattern. There was a sense of pride and contentment about them.

"Congratulations, William, Patricia." Catherine smiled at her. "I hope your life together will be as long and happy as ours has been."

Vincent placed his hand on her shoulder. "When I was young, the very good man that raised me told me that I would never be able to have a normal life . . . that wife and family were an impossibility for me." He glanced over at Catherine, enclosed in his other arm. "Then Catherine came along and followed her heart while teaching me to follow mine." He gave Patricia's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Now I am attending the wedding of my grandson." His smile clearly displayed his fangs. "Always follow your heart, Patricia. Your love for each other will lead you through any difficulties you may face." He released her shoulder. "I'm proud and happy for you both."

"So what are your plans now?" Carolyn asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

William looked over at Patricia then answered. "I think, over the next seven odd months, I will start enlarging our chambers to accommodate the new baby." He grinned back at them, his four fangs clearly visible.

Carolyn grinned back. "You know, I think we will be doing much the same thing for the next seven odd months." There was a moment's pause then Harold was staring at Carolyn, his mouth hanging open in stunned surprise. After a couple of seconds she spoke to him with barely suppressed laughter in her voice. "Close your mouth Harold dear, before you start catching flies."

William and Vincent both expressed their congratulations then Harold recovered and gave a whoop of delight. The news spread very quickly through the assembled guests adding an additional element of joy to the merry-making.

The band began the first song of the evening and both happy couples danced the first dance to the strains of '**Never My Love**', the song that both couples had adopted as 'their song'.

~ x x x x x ~

Above it was a cold January day but Below everyone was filled with the warm glow of this very special day. William and Patricia stood before all of their friends from Below, In her arms was her newborn son. William had acceded to her desired choice for his name without any hesitation. Her niece/adopted daughter stood beside her nearly as proud as the parents. Patricia gazed lovingly down into the leonine face of her new son. His bright green eyes, the mirror of her own, stared back at her. She looked over at her beloved husband whose leonine features mirrored those of her new son. Finally she again looked out at all her friends, her eyes coming to rest on their best friends Harold and Carolyn carrying their own newborn baby boy. Patricia announced. "We have named our son Alexander in honor of my father who left us much too soon." She smiled. "I know Daddy would be very surprised if he appeared today to see my son and his father but I am sure he would approve of both."

After the cheers and congratulations were over, it was Harold and Carolyn's turn. Though they did not live Below, they had become as much a part of this community as those that did. Patricia and Carolyn had become as close as Patricia and her sister had once been. Harold announced that they had named their son Travis after Carolyn's father. Patricia smiled at the similarities between her and Carolyn.

The naming day gifts were given and the party was in full swing. Patricia came over to where Vincent and Catherine were sitting. Age was beginning to catch up to them. Catherine had difficulty getting around nowadays without help and Vincent preferred to do as little standing as possible but their eyes were still bright with intelligence and joy. Patricia handed Alexander to Catherine. "I thought you might want to hold your great grandson." She turned her attention to Vincent who was gently touching the infant's fuzzy cheek. "And happy ninety-second birthday to you Grandfather Vincent."

Vincent looked up at Patricia, a suspicious glimmer in his still bright blue eyes. "This child and your happiness are the best birthday presents you could have given me. Thank you, both of you." Vincent looked back down at the new child and gently caressed his cheek with one fuzzy finger then looked up. "Alexander is a conqueror's name." He told William then he gazed down into the child's leonine face. "I wonder what worlds this Alexander will one day conquer." He said quietly.

Harold and Carolyn along with the rest of William's family came over to join them and soon they were all sitting together and talking about plans for the future. Patricia expected to get her degree this spring and had already received two lucrative job offers. The one from Maine was out of the question, but the one from a genetic medicine research company in New Jersey, just across the Hudson, looked very promising. Though they lived Below she still maintained the family condo in Brooklyn as her permanent address. Harold and Carolyn however were the true residents there. Harold was now in his first year of residency at Saint Vincent Hospital and Carolyn was about to begin a new job in the Saint Vincent HR department. Clarissa who was currently playing with little Alexander was now a full fledged Assistant District Attorney and following in her mother's footsteps. Next to Clarissa sat her fiancé Phillip, proudly wearing his brand new police officer uniform, gazing lovingly at his future bride.

Charles Gazed around at their expanding family as Elizabeth kissed his cheek then quietly commented. "And so begins the next chapter of the Chandler-Wells clan."

_**The End  
**_

* * *

'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


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